


Bitter Truth

by Zepuka



Series: Luck and Lies [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Akuma Possession, Angst, Bad Puns, Cat Puns, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Puns & Word Play, Romance, Snark, Superheroes, Truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-02 11:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10217285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zepuka/pseuds/Zepuka
Summary: There is comfort in lies. Truth can be bittersweet. You can lie to yourself and not even realize it. Is Marinette ready to accept the truth? A new akumatized villain, an ultimatum, the loss of a friend... a rude awakening is in store for Paris' scarlet heroine. One day, she was looking forward to the school dance, and the next, her world began to crumble...Rated Teen+ for more violence and scary situations than a typical episode.Primarily LadyNoir, though all forms of this love square come into play.This fic is also posted on Fanfiction.net with my account there (ZePuKa)





	1. Setting the Scene

**Bitter Truth**  
_Part 1 of 6: Setting the scene_

"Alya, can you believe it? A René Lalique exhibit! His work with jewelry is exquisite!" Marinette beamed with excitement as their class entered the museum for their field trip.  
"Whoah, girl, calm down. Don't forget we have to write a paper on this; can't have you off in the clouds when there are notes to take." Marinette's voice of reason, also known as Alya, chided.  
"Ugh, I just can't help it! This is the first exhibit to be dedicated entirely to his work and we're one of the first ones to see it!"  
"I know, I know. Tenth anniversary, right?"  
"Yup! Tragically, René Lalique died suddenly in a fateful car accident about ten years ago. I feel so bad for his daughter… She was only seventeen at the time, but she continued her father's work and she's even going to be here today explaining the pieces! Such strength! Such heart! She's one of my heroes…" Marinette sighed, her admiration apparent.  
"Wow, Marinette, you almost sound like me when I post on my Ladyblog!"  
"Hee hee", Marinette laughed sheepishly, "Oh look! The tour's about to start!" With an excited squeal, Marinette dashed over to where the rest of the class was waiting, giving Alya the perfect opportunity.

"Now for phase one of my plan…" she whispered triumphantly, locating her point of contact and covertly making her way over to him. "Psst, Nino!"  
With a slight jolt of surprise, Nino whirled around, eyebrows drawn into a questioning stare.  
"Time for Operation: Adrinette." Alya explained with a wink. Nino gave a firm nod, indicating he understood, then tapped Adrien, who was standing next to him, on the shoulder.  
"Hey, man, just remembered I brought some snacks, but I left them in the bus. Wanna come with me to grab them real quick?" Adrien nodded and the two departed, not even noticing a self-assured Alya smiling brazenly at their backs. "Phase one is a go."

* * *

 

"So… Adrien… that school dance is coming up; have you thought about who you're gonna take?" Nino prodded once the pair were out of earshot from the rest of their class.  
"Huh?"  
"Dude, did you forget already?"  
"Er… I mean, I just doubt I'll even be able to GO to the dance; you know how busy my father keeps my schedule."

Nino seemed to contemplate this awhile, for he was told that he was not, under any circumstances, to botch up his mission. "Well okay, let's assume you DO get to go… who do you wanna take?"  
"Come on, Nino, even if by some miracle I didn't have anything on my schedule and my overbearing dad miraculously let me go, why would I need to go with anyone? Couldn't I just show up, have a good time with my friends, and go?"  
"Dude, I knew you were sheltered, but this tops the cake. A dance isn't something you can just GO to, bro… if you don't gotta date, you don't dare show your face. Though knowing you, there won't be any shortage of girls who'd wanna go with you."  
"Nino, come on, that isn't true…"  
"Dude, you're a flipping model."

Adrien chuckled and patted his friend on the back. "Oh is THAT what this is about? You want me to set you up with one of the girls who comes to ask me to the dance?"  
"No offense dude, but I can fend for myself. I'm gonna ask Alya." Nino defended, crossing his arms in defiance.  
"Oh really?" Adrien smirked and quirked his eyebrows, "So things are going well with her?"  
"Nice try, man, but I'm not gonna let you make this about me. I'll just cut to the point… What do you think about taking Marinette?"  
"…Marinette?" Adrien asked, stopping in his tracks briefly in shock.  
"Yeah, dude. Why not? It could be a double date with me and Alya. And she's probably the girl you're closest to out of the whole class. I mean, unless you count Chloe…"  
"Well I can assure you, I will NOT be going to the dance with Chloe." Adrien said with a chuckle.

The two continued in contemplative silence for a ways, reaching the bus and grabbing a few snacks. Braving the awkward silence, Nino said, "You know, you still haven't answered my question."  
"What question?"  
"What do you think of Marinette and possibly taking her to the dance?"  
"Oh, uh…" Adrien felt his cheeks flush a little. He'd never really given it too much serious thought before and was nervous suddenly being placed on the spot.

"I mean… I think she's really cool, and nice… she cares a lot about others and is really creative".  
"So you do like her!" Nino cried in triumph.  
"Nah..." Adrien refuted, though he scratched the back of his head nonchalantly as he was in the habit of doing when he just wanted to move on to a different topic, "She's just a friend, you know?"  
"Sure, right NOW she is… but did you ever stop to think you could be more? I thought she'd be totally your type!" Nino exclaimed, feeling confident and proud of himself for finally accomplishing the mission set forth by Alya. No doubt she'd love the results.

"What? No… you've got it all wrong! Yeah, she's cool and all, but my type is more… kind… selfless…" Adrien rambled, closing his eyes as the image of a certain Ladybug filled his mind's eye. "…and super awesome, doing anything it takes to keep the ones she cares about safe… and looks great in red!" It was then he noticed that he'd stopped walking and still had eyes closed. He opened them and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head again as he met Nino's knowing smirk.

"Dude, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on The Ladybug".  
"Er…" Adrien stammered, blushing. He felt like he'd been caught red-handed. His mouth and body language had betrayed him and he saw no way out of this one.  
"Dude! No way!" Nino exclaimed, half laughing, half snorting.  
"Aw, come on… is it THAT ridiculous?" he pouted, suddenly feeling self-conscious.  
"No offense, but I think you'd be better off giving up now, before you get your heart broken."  
"Hey! You just said that there'd be no shortage of girls who'd want to go out with me; why is Ladybug any different?" Adrien defended, feeling his face go hot. He wasn't entirely sure why, but Nino was really getting under his skin today, threatening to pop his fragile bubble of hope where Ladybug was concerned. "Maybe she likes models…" He added hopefully, letting his mind toy with the idea for awhile – he'd have to bring up that topic on his next mission with The 'Bug.

Finally reigning in his laughter, Nino put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and told him, "In all seriousness, even if she DID like you, you could never be together."  
Adrien instinctively took a step back, not wanting to accept the dagger of truth his friend just drove through him.  
"It's a universal truth of ALL superheroes. Here, I'll show you!" and rummaging through his backpack, Nino whipped out the latest issue of a Spider-Man comic. "See here, he pushes away his true love so he can protect her from his enemies and focus on the greater good – saving the multitudes in the city."

Adrien read over the panels his friend was showing him, eyes growing wide as their logic hit him like a ton of bricks. He stood there, shell-shocked as he processed the knowledge Nino was sharing with him before he was finally able to mumble a sad, "Yeah… guess you're right."  
"Dude, you okay? Man, guess you must've had it pretty bad for The Ladybug."  
"Nah, I'm fine." a crestfallen Adrien lied, though Nino seemed to see right through it.  
"Uhhh cheer up, dude… There's still plenty of awesome and caring girls that don't have superhero obligations… why don't you get out of your comfort zone and ask one of them out?" Nino suggested, trying to be helpful.  
"Sorry, Nino… I just don't think I'm ready for that right now."  
"Nah I'm the one who's sorry, man, I shouldn't have burst your bubble like that."  
"No, I'm glad you cared enough to be honest." Adrien said with a small but genuine smile. "Hey, uh, I just realized I'm really thirsty… I'm gonna grab a drink real quick; I'll catch up later!" Forcing another smile, he turned and jogged off to the rest rooms so he could gather his thoughts.

* * *

 

Happy to find solitude in the bathroom, Adrien braced himself by the sink, steadying himself as his mind reeled with the new perspective Nino had shown him.  
"Hey, why so down in the dumps?" Plagg prodded, giving Adrien a slight start – he hadn't realized that Plagg had left his hiding spot in the pocket of his shirt.

The troubled teen didn't answer for a while, his mind and heart battling for dominance over the other.  
"Ugh, it's no use, Plagg… I know Nino's right… but how can you just tell your heart to stop loving someone? No, that's not even the half of it… To be a real hero, shouldn't I show the same selflessness as Ladybug and love the people of Paris more than I love one person? This whole time I've been preoccupied with my love for her… Which makes me unfit to be her partner in justice. No wonder she's never returned my affection… I've been so selfish."

"Aw, cheer up, Adrien! No one's perfect! Besides, you totally care about other people! You give me Camembert even though it makes you stinky!" Plagg exclaimed with a grin and upbeat tone, "And you've helped your classmates out a lot too!"  
"But I do all that as Adrien Agreste. I'm not really contributing anything as Cat Noir." He argued, hanging his blond-topped head in defeat.  
"Hey, even if you're preoccupied with Ladybug, you still ultimately benefit the whole of Paris as Cat Noir anyway!" Plagg's words had little effect on Adrien, but after a few more silent moments, the green-eyed pair exchanged a smile of mutual understanding and the two wordlessly prepared to leave the bathroom and return to the school tour. On the way, Adrien whispered a "Thanks, Plagg… I'll be fine… eventually" in reassurance.

* * *

 

"…and over here you'll see a collection of amber-based crafting my father worked on and considered his pride and joy. Every year, he'd give his favorite piece to me for my birthday and remind me that it was his favorite crafting material even though it's difficult to work with because I was named 'Amber' by my late mother."

"Oh, that's SO sweet!" Rose exclaimed, enraptured by their tour guide's story.

"Miss Amber, can you tell us which one is your favorite piece in this collection?" Marinette asked eagerly.

"Certainly. The Butterfly Brooch for Sarah Bernhardt is my personal favorite, though it was a commission for one of his clients and not one of my personal pieces. Madam Bernhardt has graciously lent us the piece for the exhibit. Notice the way the delicate fabric of the wings tapers off-"

"So… how'd it go?" Alya hissed in Nino's ear while Marinette was distracted.  
"Not good; Adrien's totally go the hots for Ladybug and isn't gonna give up on her anytime soon… Think we should tell Marinette?"  
Pausing to contemplate, Alya shook her head stating, "No… I don't think so. The girl's got enough confidence issues already. Comparing herself to an unattainable standard like Ladybug could crush her. Let me handle this; I'll have her over for a sleepover and some girl talk!"

"Alya! Nino! You're gonna miss the glass-blowing show!" Marinette called, waving at her distracted companions, who grinned guiltily and in their efforts to look natural, swaggered over with jerky movements to follow Marinette.

Taking their seats, Marinette carefully made sure they moved in one additional seat before turning to Alya and exhaling deeply. "Alright, I can do this; just like we discussed!"  
"Whuh?" Alya asked, confused.  
"Don't flake on me now! I need your encouragement to get the courage to ask Adrien to sit with us; like we discussed earlier!"  
"Oh, right… that… Listen, I don't – "  
"Ohmygosh! Here he comes! Wish me luck!" Marinette rushed, before she could have second thoughts, towards the back of the auditorium where Adrien was entering.

"Adrien!" She called, mentally patting herself on the back for being able to get his name out correctly and audibly, though her resolution faltered as he waved and flashed that signature winning smile. "Uhhhhhhh Over seat! I mean, Here, we seat a saved! I mean…" She fumbled about for words, going pink in the face as she tried, in vain, to recover.

"Oh, Adrikins!" Chloe interjected, and with her criminally precise timing, grabbed Adrien by the arm and led him to a spare seat she had prepared with herself and Sabrina just as Amber spoke up from the pit, testing her mic and beginning the show. Adrien glanced over his shoulder and flashed an apologetic smile at the stunned Marinette, who at least managed a goofy grin and hand wave in response.

Thus forced to give up, Marinette returned to her seat where Alya and Nino were waiting and settled in to enjoy the show.  
"Why can't I ever just talk normally to him!?" the flustered girl whined, leaning on Alya's shoulder for support.  
Patting her head reassuringly, Alya comforted her friend, "Cheer up, girl… Tell you what: why don't you come over to my house tonight to work on our field trip report? Mom wants some feedback on some new recipes she's trying out, so you could stay for dinner and sleep over!"  
"Thanks, Alya! You're the best! Thanks for always supporting me!"  
Looking away guiltily, Alya muttered, "Right… support…"  
"What was that?" Marinette asked innocently, beaming at her friend.  
"Er, I said we should pay attention! Big report to write!"  
"Right!"

The show was the last thing on Marinette's mind, however, as she kept sneaking glances over at Adrien, who was valiantly trying to fend off Chloe's advances and pay attention to the speaker. That Chloe, always ruining things for everyone… Surely Adrian wanted to pay attention so he could do well on the report, and Marinette had been looking forward to this exhibit for weeks, and now the most she was getting out of it was an occasional sentence: "The working temperature for glass blowing needs to be between 16,000 and 19,000 degrees Farenheit.", "A strong set of lungs is required to force air through the pipe…", "You'll have a chance to try your hand at some glass blowing later on.", "And lastly, I'm about to demonstrate one of the most mysterious phenomenons of glass known as Prince Rupert's Drop".

It's amazing how time flies when you're preoccupied, and before Marinette knew it, their field trip had come to an end and Marinette found herself packing for her sleepover at Alya's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> René Lalique was an actual French artist, known for his work with glass, jewelry, and hood ornaments. But beyond these connections, he has nothing in common with the character in this story. His daughter Amber is completely made up, as his is annual gift of amber jewelry to her. The Butterfly Brooch for Sarah Bernhardt, however, is an actual piece by him, though it was a stomacher and is only amber in color and not actually made with amber or resin.
> 
> Spider-Man is a Marvel character that I own no rights to, and neither does Zag Heroez for that matter, but I felt that with how strongly Ladybug's character echoes Spider-Man's (her fighting and swinging around with her Yo-yo animation style heavily mirrors Spider-Man's, and she's also got the split personality of clumsy, awkward 'Peter Parker', and confident, joke-cracking 'Spider-Man'), I wanted to use him as Nino's superhero reference. Interesting tidbit: Alya's "Majestia" comic in Origins (Part 1) is an obvious hats off to Wonder Woman and Super Girl.
> 
> The glass show was inspired by a trip I took to the Corning Museum of Glass in NY. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, but it's a fascinating place, and the glass shows are a must see. They really do have blow-your-own glass work shops and it really is super difficult to do. I had in mind a longer scene for this where we got to see Chloe brag about being able to blow glass no problem and then get totally shown up by Marinette, but it just made the chapter a lot longer and it was unnecessary so I cut it.


	2. Act I

**Bitter Truth**  
_Part 2 of 6: Act I_

"Where is it-where-is-itwhereisit!?" Marinette demanded in increasing urgency and pitch, frantically tearing apart her room as her poor Kwami narrowly dodged flying pillows, fabrics, and the occasional sharp object.  
"Calm down, Marinette!" Tikki pleaded, having just had a close scrape with a pin cushion.  
"But I'm running SO late and I PROMISED I'd show Alya my new designs for dresses I could make for the school dance! Oooh, where's my brain when I need it?" the frustrated girl exclaimed, tousling her hair in anguish.  
"First things first, Marinette. Take a deep breath, try to recall where you last saw your sketch book – "  
"Ah-hah!" Marinette squealed, rushing towards her crafting bench, having seen the corner of the desired item peeping out from underneath a pile of sewing supplies. "Gotcha!" she shrieked in triumph, tossing aside the other tools to reach her goal.  
"Eek!" Tikki cried, making an admirable attempt to dodge the airborne implements, but nonetheless found herself bludgeoned by a pair of pinking shears. "Ouch! Marinette! PLEASE be more careful!"

The sound of her distressed Kwami prompted the over-excited teen to hurry over and assess the damage. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Tikki! Are you hurt?"  
Sighing, Tikki replied, "Thankfully, no; the same magic that makes your suit indestructible also protects me from being impaled… but I'd thank you to remember that bruising isn't fun either."  
"I know, I'm sorry Tikki… Guess I'm  _cutting things a little close_  in more ways than one tonight" Marinette apologized, retrieving the scissors that had assaulted Tikki before cringing. "Ugh, that was a pretty bad pun; I think Cat Noir must be rubbing off on me."  
"What do you mean? You crack puns too, you know, and some pretty lame ones at that." Tikki asserted.

"Hey!" Marinette protested, wagging the scissors teasingly in Tikki's face, "Don't put me on the same level as Cat Noir!"  
"Why not? I didn't say there's anything wrong with making bad puns. Besides, you can't deceive me; you may pretend you don't like Cat Noir's puns, but I can tell you're laughing on the inside. You're often hard pressed to keep yourself from smiling at his jokes."  
"What!? That's not true!" the raven-haired girl protested, an annoyed edge creeping over her previously playful mood. "Er, well, I mean… Most of the time, anyway… There are SO many times when it's just not the time or place for joking around, and Cat Noir always does it anyway!"

"Actually…" Marinette's voice softened in seriousness, "I kinda worry about him sometimes… He's always so impulsive, and he never uses his head when we're battling akuma. I wonder if he ever takes it seriously. It's not all fun and games like he seems to think it is."

Tikki giggled and put a hand on Marinette's shoulder in reassurance, "Don't worry, every Cat Noir has been like that, and every Ladybug has had the same concerns you have."  
"Really?"  
"Indeed! The Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculouses were designed to be opposites. As you know, the Ladybug is granted powers of restoration and luck, representing order, creativity, and peace. The Cat Noir powers contrast Ladybug's, being that of destruction and misfortune. They are characterized by impulse, dissonance, and chaos. In addition to worthiness, wielders are also chosen for their predisposition for compatibility with these qualities. This is why you approach battles practically and are usually the one to come up with a plan of action, and why Cat Noir rushes in following his instincts. In short, you tend to follow your head, and Cat Noir tends to follow his heart. It's natural to clash this way."

' _Huh… I guess that makes a lot of sense, looking back on Cat Noir's behavior in battle…'_  Marinette reasoned to herself. But something didn't sit right with her, so she asked, "Tikki… Why would they design things this way, such that the team had two complete opposites working together? Wouldn't that make it harder to work together effectively?"  
With a violent shake of the head and and encouraging smile, the Kwami responded, "No, Marinette; you're thinking about it all wrong! They were made specifically for each other! Where one of you is weak, the other is strong! By working together, the Ladybug Miraculous and Cat Noir Miraculous make an unstoppable team; balancing each other out!"

Marinette pondered her kwami's logic and while it made sense to a point, it didn't serve to assuage her worries. Seeing this, Tikki patted Marinette's shoulder and finished her pep talk with, "Don't worry so much, Marinette. I've seen Cat Noir take a situation seriously when he needed to, and I've never known a wielder of his miraculous who failed to come through when he was needed most." Comforted by her words, Marinette smiled and drew her kwami into a gentle hug. "Thanks, Tikki. You always know how to make me feel better."

"Marinette? It's getting late; are you ready for us to take you to Alya's?" Mrs. Dupain-Cheng's muffled voice sounded below the trapdoor that led downstairs.

"Aiya! Almost done, mom!" Marinette exclaimed, frazzled once again and grabbing things in a frenzy. Not wanting to take any chances after her encounter with the shears, Tikki took cover in Marinette's purse while her partner finished her packing.

* * *

 "Did you see the way his eyes lit up during the glass-blowing demonstration? I'm not sure if it's because he was enjoying it so much, or because the amber glow of the molten glass complimented his brilliant green eyes so perfectly…" Marinette sighed as her best friend looked through the sketches she brought. Alya had been uncharacteristically quiet, letting Marinette ramble on about the many virtues of Adrien to her heart's content, but now that it'd been a good hour, Marinette was beginning to worry something heavy was weighing on her friend's mind.

"I like this paper dress design a lot, but I worry that you'll be covered head to toe in papercuts making it." Alya remarked, once again changing the subject, like she had done all evening.

' _Alright, something MUST be up. Time to be direct…'_  Marinette resolved, joining Alya on the edge of the bed. "Alya… you've hardly said a word all night, and you usually always have something to say when I talk about Adrien… I'm sorry, have you reached your threshold on putting up with my ranting about him?" she asked timidly, thinking that were she in Alya's position, she would've tired of the subject long ago.  _'Note to self: try not to rant so much about Adrien… no matter how perfect he is.'_

"Um…" her beautifully bronzed friend hesitated, eyes averted and brows furrowed in concentration, as though what she wanted to say couldn't be expressed in words. "Hey… I know you won't want to hear this… but I've been thinking… It's been over a year now that you've been all gooey-eyed over Adrien…" Pausing, Alya finally met Marinette's gaze, hesitation and sympathy emanating from her hazel eyes. "But… he's shown no change in interest. I… I just think it might be time for you to move on… You know, before you get your heart ripped in two."

Whatever ripping sensation Alya was trying to prevent, it hadn't worked, for that's exactly how her heart felt at hearing Alya's thoughts on her chances. Up 'til now, she had always been so supportive and Marinette had entertained strong hope, however small... But now, without even her best friend to affirm her hopes, it felt like her heart had been ripped from her ribcage and dashed to pieces on the floor. "Wh- why would you say that, Alya?" Marinette finally managed to ask, fighting the feelings of betrayal that were beginning to surface.

Alya's already pained expression threatened to become tearful, but she reigned it in with a forceful inhale, determination taking over as she blurted, "Think about it, girl… Isn't it better to move on now, before you get in any deeper and lose your heart completely... instead of waiting forever, perhaps missing other opportunities for love, then ultimately getting your long-waiting heart broken when Adrien chooses another girl?"

' _Another girl?'_ The words shot like an arrow through her already broken heart. The thought had never seriously occurred to her before. She hadn't noticed when she'd started crying, but she was now acutely aware that her cheeks were wet and her vision was beginning to blur. As if two strikes to the heart weren't enough, Alya went for the strike out with, "-And in this city, when that happens, you could find yourself akumatized."

' _Akumatized? I never even considered… Can a miraculous holder become akumatized? I'll have to ask Tikki… but if they can… if Ladybug becomes an akuma victim… No! I can't let that happen!'_  It seemed that when your heart struck out, one had a hard time taking in their surroundings, for Marinette wasn't sure how long she was crying, or when Alya had wrapped her in a hug, but she eventually became aware that Alya kept quietly apologizing as she herself cried. "Nn…" Marinette tried to speak, but found her voice raw and hoarse. Sniffing and pulling away, Marinette cleared her throat as best she could and tried to soothe Alya, "No, you were right to tell me. -sniff- Thank you for being honest, e-even though the truth was bitter and hurtful… You're a true -sniff- friend, Alya."

It still felt like her world had just crumbled, but Marinette found the strength to put on a small smile to reassure her best friend, who returned the smile, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Tikki peeking out of her purse and smiling at her with sad but proud eyes.

* * *

 "At last! I did it!" Amber squealed with delight as she held up the finished piece. "I finally replicated my father's crowning achievement!" Admiring the sunset glow the amber-crusted tail of the glass cast on her work space, she didn't hear the buzzer of her intercom until the fourth attempt. "Oh, Sarah! I forgot!" Placing the newly finished glass piece into her pocket with a thought to show it to Sarah, she rushed out to the display area to meet her.

"So sorry to keep you waiting!" Amber panted as she caught her breath, thanking the security guard for buzzing her work shop about her visitor.  
"Oh, don't worry about it, dear…" The older woman eased, though she had an anxious aura about her person.  
"We still on for breakfast tomorrow?" Amber asked tentatively, for the two had a habit of grabbing food every couple of weeks, despite their age gap. Ever since Amber's father had died, Sarah seemed to have taken it upon herself to be a foster parent of sorts, and Amber had come to cherish her as close friend.

Sarah didn't answer immediately, however, instead staring forlornly at the amber piece she was here to pick up.  
"Oh, sorry, you must be tired and anxious to get your brooch back so you can get home." Amber guessed, whipping out the key to the case and retrieving the jewel.

"Actually… there's something I need to tell you…" Sarah said somberly, refusing to look Amber in the eye. "Something I should've said long ago, and I've resolved to tell you now before I get too scared to, yet again… Now that it's the anniversary of his death."  
"What?" Amber breathlessly questioned, knowing it must be something serious related to her deceased father, but having no clue what it could possibly be.  
"Listen, Amber… First I need you to know that I'm so, so very sorry…"  
"What's this all about?"  
"Ten years ago… I commissioned another jewelry piece from your father…"  
"Yes, the Butterfly brooch you're here to pick up… Thank you for lending it to the exhibit – "  
"Please, don't interrupt. This is hard enough as it is."  
"O-okay…"  
"I had commissioned a brooch for an important charity event that took place the same day he died."  
"The same day…?"  
"I went to pick it up a few days before the event, but that's when I noticed that beautiful piece…" Sarah said with a reminiscent look in her eyes as she turned her attention to the Butterfly brooch in Amber's hand. "Your father noticed my interest and proudly told me that he was working on it for his daughter's birthday that was in a week…"

Amber's eyes widened at this… so that amber butterfly… it was supposed to have been hers?  
Sarah took a few deep breaths to resolve herself before recommencing, "Looking back I was so petty and selfish… but I told him I simply had to have it for the charity event. He tried to discourage me, saying that it wasn't anywhere near finished and thus wouldn't be ready in time for me to pick up for the party, but that he'd gladly make me another one at a later point in time… Yet I… I still insisted that I had to have it for the charity event in a few days and offered to pay him double the usual fare."

Not sure how to process all this information, Amber just stared at Sarah in shock as the pieces began to fall into place… Some of father's experimental techniques at the time were proving to be rather cost-intensive, and in the weeks leading up to his untimely death, he had been complaining that money was proving to be tight… So that meant…

"Your father reluctantly agreed to do the task and rushed to complete it. It was so last minute that he still wasn't quite finished the day of the event in time for me to be able to pick it up and be back in time for the event, so I told him to bring it straight to the event for me…"  
"No…" Amber mouthed, her voice failing her as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.  
"Yes… I'm so, so very sorry, Amber…" Sarah admitted, voice wracked with guilt. "On the way to the party, in his hurry to deliver the piece, he didn't see the car as he crossed the street on foot…"  
"….stop…" Amber finally managed to vocalize, voice choked with tears as she struggled to keep standing upright. "Enough… I… I don't need to hear anymore."

Anger clouded over the jeweler's eyes as she turned on Sarah, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"  
"I'm sorry… When I got the news, I just couldn't come to terms with it… especially when I saw your crying face…"  
"You had the perfect chance when I delivered the brooch to you!"  
"I… I almost didn't take it… but when I did, I told myself I'd make it up to you, that I'd watch over you in your father's stead – "  
"So all those times we ate together, talked about life, shared secrets… that was all because you felt OBLIGATED to?"  
"NO! Well, maybe at first…but-!"  
"You have some nerve, showing up now for that same piece and demanding forgiveness!"  
"No, I didn't actually ask for forgiveness; I know I don't deserve it, and the brooch, it's all yours! It was originally meant for you anyway!"  
"LIAR! All these years you've LIED to me! There's no way I can believe you now! Leave! I never want to see you again!" Amber cried, clutching the amber butterfly to her chest and fleeing to her workshop.

* * *

 "Ah… What a bitter betrayal! Such resentment, such hate! Perfect!" a sinister voice chanted in the dark.

* * *

 It was a typical, quiet night in the room of Adrien Agreste. Well, with the exception of Plagg's usual humming and whining for more Camembert and the low drone of the television he always kept on in the background so he'd be alerted of any trouble in Paris.

Adrien was clenching the end of a stylus in his teeth – a nervous habit both his father and Natalie had tried to break him of, claiming it would ruin his perfectly straight teeth, and that just wouldn't do for his modeling career. He was finding his current homework plastered across three monitors too stressful to resist the temptation, however, and before long, even nibbling was no longer able to repress the sigh of exasperation he'd been trying to bite back. It wasn't even like he needed to do this for grade. No, he'd finished his actual school work hours ago. He often had far more homework related to his extracurricular studies in Chinese, fencing, and modeling. Tonight's assignment featured the task of researching various camera angles so he could write a report on it and be better able to pose for the cameras in an upcoming shoot for his father's new fashion line.

' _Maybe this time he'll be pleased with the results…'_  He thought mournfully, knowing his hopes hung on a thin wire. No matter how hard he worked, doing everything his father asked, he never got any praise for it.  _'Why should I even bother with all this stuff I hate doing if it isn't going to please him anyway? Rather than fencing, Chinese, piano, and modeling, I'd much rather be practicing martial arts, poetry and puns, dancing, and acting…'_  He thought rebelliously. Truth be told, tonight wasn't the first time he'd been tempted to shirk his responsibilities and do some self-study… and he'd indulged himself from time to time, enough so that he'd like to think he'd become at least competent in each of those fields.

His martial arts in particular had come especially far, now that he got so much practice in as Cat Noir. He'd like to think his puns had come just as far, but it was hard to tell with Ladybug's feedback. He could swear that she liked them… sometimes… or maybe she just found them annoying…? But then again how could he know for sure when he'd only ever gotten to practice his puns around her? He was no stranger to the fact that most people found puns lame, and so he hadn't dared to use them as Adrien. ' _Well, there was that -one- time I hadn't quite slipped back into my character of Adrien and cracked a pun… but at least only Chloe, Sabrina, and Marinette heard it.'_  He had a hard enough time making friends as it was; he couldn't risk losing them over something so trivial. But as Cat Noir, it was easy to be himself in that aspect since Ladybug already accepted him. Well, maybe not in all the ways he'd like, but enough for him to just be himself around her – puns and all. He liked to think that they had a bit of pun war going, and that she liked it, and that he was winning it… He certainly held the title for the greater quantity of puns, and he'd like to think he also held the title for the best quality of puns as well… But as much as he hated to admit it, Ladybug could certainly one-up him in that department when she wanted to. But at least he thought that meant she liked puns like he did… he also liked to think that she only gave him a hard time about his puns 'cause she was jealous of his pun  _prowless._

"Hellooooo! Anyone home? What's that smug grin of yours for?" Adrien was suddenly aware of Plagg addressing him – right in front of his face. With cat-like reflexes, Adrien jumped out of his desk chair and backwards, fight stance at the ready. "Sheesh, what's got you so deep in thought, Adrien? It's way past dinner time and I'm gonna die of starvation if you don't order food soon!"

Placing a hand over his heart to slow its rapid pace a bit after the sudden adrenaline rush, the startled boy apologized, "Sorry, Plagg, I guess I lost track of time. I'll have the chef whip up something now."  
"About time." Plagg harrumphed.

While they were eating, Adrien ventured a solemn inquiry with his kwami, "Hey, Plagg… Do you think it's okay to have selfish motivations for wielding a Miraculous? Or is that like… how people become villains?"

"What do you mean?" Plagg asked in-between bites of his favorite stinky cheese.  
"I mean… originally I was only excited to become Cat Noir so I could escape this house… but then I met Ladybug. And it occurred to me that while we do save Paris… My primary objective isn't to protect Paris, but to protect her…"  
"I don't see anything wrong with that."  
"Are you just saying that so you can get back to focusing on your cheese?" Adrien asked bluntly with a look of annoyance as Plagg downed the remaining seventy-five percent of the wheel in one gulp.  
His kwami smiled guiltily with a shrug and replied, "I just think you're overthinking things. My philosophy is don't worry about the future; just do what you know you have to do in the moment."  
"Somehow, I don't think Ladybug would approve of that logic."  
"So? You're not Ladybug; you're Cat Noir."

Adrien was prevented from protesting when his phone rang, caller ID indicating that it was his best friend. "Hey, Nino, what's up?" he answered, leaving a happy Plagg to revel in his Camembert-induced food coma.  
"Yo, dude, was just wondering if you had a chance to talk to your old man about going to the dance?"  
"Oh, that… right." In all honesty, Adrien had completely forgotten that he was supposed to do that, having gotten caught up in all his extra assignments and melancholic thoughts. "I haven't asked him yet."  
"Well you gotta do it soon; parental permission forms are due in a few days. I'm pretty sure you're the only one in the class who hasn't turned his in yet."  
"What? Everyone already has dates?"  
"Huh? No, it's just the permission slips that are due…"  
"But I thought you said it's pointless to go alone without a date."  
"Well yeah, but there's no need to start gathering up the courage to ask a girl if you don't have permission to even go, you know? So most people go ahead and turn in their permission slips before trying to find a partner… just in case, you know? But hey dude, don't sweat it if you don't want to get a partner. You can still come if it's just by yourself – you need to get out more as it is!"

Adrien smiled to himself over his friend's obvious concern; it was nice to be cared for. "Alright, Nino, I'll ask him." He resolved, if for no other reason than Nino's peace of mind. It was doubtful his father would say yes, but he'd at least try for the sake of his friend.  
"Well?" Nino prodded, as though he expected Mr. Agreste to be in the same room as Adrien.  
"What?"  
"Go and ask him!"  
"What, now?"  
"Yeah, dude! No time like the present!"  
"But – "  
"I won't hang up until I hear you ask the question. Put me on speaker so I can hear; I'll be quiet."

There were times when his friend's concern was touching… and then there were times when it was a touch inconvenient. Adrien couldn't prevent the look of annoyance that graced his face when he realized this was going to be one of those times. "Ugh, fine. Hold on." Adrien finally acquiesced and quickly located Nathalie.

* * *

 "Nathalie, do you know where my father is? I need to ask him something…" the nervous teen inquired, emerald eyes refusing to make contact with hers in his embarrassed state. Honestly, this was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now. All his contemplation earlier about Ladybug had got him wanting to see her, and he was selfishly hoping some trouble would pop up in Paris so he could  _rendezvous_  with his  _Bug-a-boo_.

"Hang on, let me page him… Mister Agreste, your son would like to speak with you- …Yes, I understand… I know you're busy… Yes sir, I'll handle it…"

It wasn't surprising, but Adrien felt the familiar pang, like a knife to the stomach, just like every other time he needed his father, but was shooed away like a common pest.

"What do you need, Adrien? I'll see to it as best I can." Nathalie offered helpfully, and Adrien nearly excused himself with a dismissal 'Nevermind', but a grunt from his phone stopped him in his tracks. Adrien hurriedly cleared his throat to cover the sound coming from his phone and hide the fact that there was a third party listening to their conversation. Nino's tone in his grunt told Adrien everything he needed to know, though… Nino wasn't going to let him accept defeat so easily. Sighing in resignation, Adrien pulled out the permission slip Nino made him dig through his book bag to find and handed it to her. "Erm, the school dance is coming up, and I'm the only one who hasn't turned in my permission slip yet… I need a guardian signature in order to be able to attend."

There. He'd accomplished his mission, right? There was nothing more to be done, so Nino could get off his back and he'd finally be able to move past this silly dance business. To his surprise, however, Nathalie gave him a look of sad compassion, and instead of dismissing him with a 'I'll make sure your father gets this.' remark like he expected, she looked about shiftily, as if expecting his dad to appear out of thin air, then whipped out a pen and signed the permission slip – as 'Mr. Gabriel Agreste'.

Staring at her in shock, Adrien's eyes silently asked her  _'How?'_. Nathalie only put a finger to her lips and whispered, "I often have to sign documents on behalf of Mr. Agreste. This will be our little secret, okay?"

"Score!" Nino cried over the speakerphone, startling both Adrien and Nathalie. "I mean, thanks, Natalie! Heh heh…" Adrien added with a nervous neck scratch, as though he had been the one to say 'Score!', then ran off to his room before she had a chance to find out that Nino was on the phone.

* * *

"See? It didn't hurt to try!" Nino whooped triumphantly.

"Okay, I admit, you were right this time." Adrien admitted with a wide smile, even though Nino couldn't see it. He'd never thought he'd actually be able to go, and now that he actually had a signed permission slip in hand, he suddenly found himself looking forward to it much more than he thought he would. He was also happy that he'd secretly been studying dancing as a compliment to acting, and he liked to think he'd gotten rather competent at it.  
"You've never been to a dance before, right? Well no fear, your man Nino is here to walk you through everything you'll need to know!"  
_'Everything I need to know? What's there to know?'_

"So when you pick up the corsage for your date…" Nino started, and that's when Adrien realized he really did have no idea how school dances worked.  
"Huh? Corsage?"  
"...We have a lot of work to do… Tell you what. Why don't you come over for dinner after school tomorrow? I'll bring you up to speed then."

 _'Great… more extra-curricular studies…'_  Adrien thought initially, begrudging his impossibly large workload.  _'…You know what? Screw camera angles; I'm gonna study for something I want to do even if it means shirking off some other studies!'_ "Sure, sounds great, Nino! Thanks again!"  
"No problem, dude. Have a good night!"  
"Goodnight, Nino." Hanging up the phone, Adrien couldn't help but grin from ear-to-ear. As troublesome as the whole thing seemed, it was a chance to hang out with his friends outside of school, and that was a rare thing indeed.

"School dance, huh?" Plagg inquired, apparently having overheard enough of the conversation. "Who are you gonna ask to be your date?"  
"Uh, I haven't really thought about it yet… I only just got permission." Adrien shrugged, scratching the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed as the implications of being able to attend the dance started to sink in. Striding over to his desk, he grabbed his stylus, kicked back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling, pondering the answer to that question as he nibbled the end of the stylus.

' _Of course Ladybug would be ideal, but that's not really possible…'_  As if his surroundings would help him reach a solution, his eyes settled on his monitors, which were still displaying now-useless information on photography. He huffed and cleared the screen, displaying the desktop photo of his mother when she was his age. "What do you think, mom?" he asked sadly, knowing he wouldn't get an answer. Downcast, he lowered his gaze to his keyboard, where Plagg was now hovering, a look of worry on his usually mischievous face. He, too, cast about the room, looking for something to say to comfort his master. Looking like a lightbulb had just lit above his head, Plagg suggested, "Why don't you ask Marinette to go?"

"Why is everyone suggesting her?" Adrien asked curiously – not that he was entirely opposed to the idea. It's just that she was a friend, nothing more. "Wouldn't it be awkward to ask a friend to the dance?"  
"Is she?" Plagg pressed, with an annoyingly playful tone.  
"Is she what?"  
"A friend."  
"I'm not sure what you mean. What else would she be?"  
"You tell me." He insisted, arms crossed.  
"Aw, come on Plagg. We've been over this. Just because I gave her my umbrella… You know my heart belongs to Ladybug and Ladybug alone. There's no room for anyone else – I wouldn't do such a thing to Ladybug; it would taint my pure love for her."  
"Then why do you still have that?" Plagg asked with a smirk, pointing at a small red bracelet charm that was lying on the desk next to his keyboard like it was an incriminating piece of evidence.

Adrien felt his cheeks begin to tinge involuntarily. "It's just for good luck… It can't hurt to have it around with the constant presence of a certain unlucky black cat hanging about." The words rolled off his tongue so naturally – It was easy when he'd told himself the same thing time and time again. He told himself just that every time he found himself playing with it absently or pocketing it before heading out every day. He'd had it since Marinette had given it to him when they were practicing for the game tournament and she had claimed that it was the secret to her success.

If he was being honest, he had felt something… odd with Marinette that day, but it was probably just nerves – that was the first time he'd been to a friend's house… a  _female_  friend's house, that is. What was weirder was that when he'd tried to give it back, Marinette had insisted he keep it, and he had gotten so caught up in her blue eyes, he couldn't find the words to refuse – and then she'd run off to win the game tournament with Max.

That hadn't been the first time he'd noticed her eyes, either. He first noticed them when Ladybug had sent him the picture of Marinette and given him the assignment to protect the girl while she herself had a 'secret mission'. It was probably because he had Ladybug's image in mind because he was getting a call from her, but in that moment, he had thought they had the same eyes. He had been so eager to try and find Ladybug's identity, he'd even entertained the notion that Ladybug's 'secret mission' was an undercover one – as her real self… and that Marinette was actually Ladybug's true identity. He'd thus tested his theory by turning his flirt on with Marinette to see if he got the same responses from Marinette as he did with Ladybug. Of course her response had been completely different, so he resigned himself to the fact that His Lady's identity still evaded him. What he hadn't anticipated that day was that he'd end up enjoying the flirting as much as he did… He only ever flirted with Ladybug; she was his lady… So why had he liked flirting with Marinette so much? He'd always thought he'd just been a little bit on the rebound since Ladybug had just crushed his heart, saying she thought that stupid copy-cat truly loved her and he didn't… but even now in hindsight when that wound wasn't fresh, something about Marinette got under his skin.  _'It's those eyes…'_

When had he picked up the charm bracelet? Adrien now found himself holding the bracelet in one hand, running his thumb over the delicate beads as Plagg looked on with a smug, knowing look. Feeling like he'd just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar, young Agreste's cheeks burned and he slammed the incriminating piece of jewelry back on the desk, mumbling that it was time for bed. He gathered up his books and supplies, put them away, and went to shut down his computer, but hesitated as the face of his mother looked back at him.  _'They really do have the same eyes… Mom, Ladybug… Marinette. They just have that twinkle of kindness in them…'_

"…A new villain has appeared in Paris tonight, and is now terrorizing late-night goers to the Louvre…" The reporter on television reported, catching the sensitive ears of Adrien and Plagg. Exchanging their typical look – Adrien's one of determination and Plagg's one of 'Please, no, I need to eat first' – Adrien shouted, "Plagg, claws out!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The indestructible nature of the miraculous costumes is in a webisode of "Miraculous Secrets". In the episode "Marinette's Double Life", Marinette tells her diary that her suit is made of indestructible material. Thus I figure Tikki must be made of indestructible material too.
> 
> The fact that Ladybug follows her head and Cat Noir follows his heart is explained at end of the episode "Lady Wi-Fi". So I thought it made sense to apply that concept to the explanation that Tikki gives on the attributes of the Miraculouses and the selection of their wielders for those characteristics. I also mentioned that the miraculouses were made for each other during the Tikki explanation scene, and this is a reference to the multiple instances of 'made for each other' that were said in the episode "Stone Heart (Origins Part 2)", though each time it was in reference to characters… but in Tikki's speech, it's referring to how the miraculouses themselves were made for each other… but of course Tikki is speaking with double meaning, hinting that Ladybug and Cat Noir would made for each other, but alas, our girl Marinette isn't very good at picking up on such hints. You'll have to be blunter next time, Tikki.
> 
> The paper dress design Alya comments on is in reference to the webisode "Tales From Paris: Inspiration".
> 
> Alya mentioned that Marinette could be akumatized. It's a popular fan theory that fellow miraculous holders cannot be akumatized… However if that's the case, wouldn't all miraculous users be immune to the effects of other miraculouses? Why then would Cat Noir try to use his cataclysm against Ladybug when he's under someone's control? And how is it possible for him to be under an akuma victim's control if he's supposedly immune to the effects of someone else's miraculous? So I'm apt to think that no, they're not immune… but perhaps have a higher resilience due to being a miraculous holder? I think that would align with the higher time capacity mentioned in "Timebreaker", but this is all just speculation and I don't intend to answer these questions in this fic… just present the possibility that no, they're not immune to being akumatized, and in situations of extreme despair, may very well fall prey to Hawk Moth.
> 
> Adrien is revealed to be a pen chewer in "Dark Cupid". This is usually a habit, so it struck me as weird that it's only in one episode. It could be that it only pops up when Adrien is feeling particularly strained, but I decided to assume that he was being trained out of, as such a habit would be bad for his teeth, and you know, that model in him...
> 
> Adrien confesses that he does the things his father wants him to do in the hopes that it'll make his father happy in "Miraculous Secrets: Adrien's Double Life". The list I mentioned for things he'd rather be doing I gleaned mainly from what he does as Cat Noir. Obviously, the multitude of puns and use of martial arts from many-an-episode. We see Cat Noir dancing in the episode "Mr. Pidgeon", not to mention the impressive 'pole dance' in "RogerCop". Poetry we see him do as Adrien, writing a poem for Ladybug in the episode "Dark Cupid". Adrien is explicitly acting in the episode "Horrificator", but I also believe that 'Adrien' is a role he's acting... Sure, there may be some parts of Adrien that are true, but mostly it's a mask, in my opinion.
> 
> The one time Adrien cracks a pun as Adrien instead of Cat Noir is in the episode "Darkblade", where shortly after changing back, he rejoins the group, excusing his absence with claims that he got turned into a knight and that it was a 'knightmare'.
> 
> Adrien and Ladybug remark that the other has Mrs. Agreste's eyes in the episode "Simon Says". It's obvious that Adrien has his mother's eyes – they're both brilliant green. But I attempted to explain what similarities Adrien saw between his mom and Ladybug, since the color is different.
> 
> The good luck charm bracelet was given to Adrien by Marinette in the episode "Gamer". In a deleted scene – which can be seen in the animatic version of the episode – Adrien attempts to return it to Marinette, but she insists he keeps it and he then pockets it.  
> The 'Secret Mission' Adrien refers to here is the one where Ladybug is busy being Marinette to go on a date with Nathan in "Evillustrator". I'm using thewalkingweapon's tumblr post of their episode chronological timeline as a reference, and in it, the episode "Copy Cat" comes right before "Evillustrator", hence why I described Adrien's musings on his flirtation with Marinette (as Cat Noir) in the episode "Evillustrator" as a moment of weakness. Sure, Ladybug's subtly rejected him countless times, but to me, it feels like Cat Noir took the one in "Copy Cat" the hardest. Poor, precious baby.


	3. Act II

**Bitter Truth  
** _Part 3 of 6: Act II_

Marinette awoke the next morning feeling like she hadn't slept in a week. She buried her face in her pillow in denial, not wanting to acknowledge that the sun was up and the time had come to greet the day.  _'When did I actually fall asleep? Last I remember, I was trying not to let Alya hear me cry…'_

Today was the day she had to move on from Adrien, but seeing him at school was going to make that difficult. " _Don't overthink it; you're still friends after all! I bet nothing will really change!"_  Alya had said optimistically the night before, but Marinette had her doubts. If nothing else, she at least hoped she wouldn't stammer so much around him, knowing that the pressure to impress him was no longer necessary.

"You're going to smother yourself if you don't come up for air soon, Mari." Alya stated matter-of-factly, startling the onyx-haired mess in said pillow to bolt upright in fright – she hadn't realized that she wasn't the only one awake.  
"Gosh, Alya! You scared me! How long have you been up?"  
"Long enough to ask mom to make us her famous pancakes ~ " she trilled triumphantly – she knew what her best friend liked and when she needed such comfort food.  
"Ohmygosh, really!?" Marinette exclaimed, instantly brightening at the prospect of a special treat.  
"Shall we get ready and go stuff our faces?" Alya offered rhetorically.  
With an enthusiastic nod, Marinette shed the covers and headed to the bathroom, lamenting the fact that she no doubt had some dark circles and puffy eyes to combat before she'd be school-ready.

"Morning, mom!" Alya greeted the chef, who was currently setting out breakfast for the two while watching the morning news.  
"Thank you, Mrs. Césaire!" Marinette beamed, practically drooling over her breakfast.

But before Marlena had a chance to respond, the TV alerted them to a breaking news announcement. "Reports are pouring in: strange things are happening to the citizens, but the incidents appear to be isolated – no two events are the same. Nadja Chamack is live on the scene near the Louvre where the most recent attack has taken place. Over to you, Nadja."

Alya and Marinette exchanged worried glances before returning their attention to the television. "I'm live on the scene and have a witness here with me to give his testimony on the latest happenings. Sir, can you tell us what you saw?"  
"I was just here to meet my friend to celebrate my birthday, and just as she was explaining that she'd left my gift at home, this crazy villain lady shows up and says, 'No longer will you be spinning webs of lies, you'll be spinning real webs!'. Then before I know what's happened, my friend had been turned into a giant spider! I hate spiders!" the witness answered with a shiver before running off as said spider crashed through a barricade in the background, sending a black blur that Marinette bet was probably Cat Noir flying and provoking more screaming en masse.

Gasping in delight, Alya turned her attention to Marinette and exclaimed, "I need to go get some coverage for my Ladyblog! Ladybug'll probably be on the scene soon!"  
"Uh, okay… you go ahead. I'll, uh, just stay here and eat my pancakes!" Marinette stammered.  
"Nuh-uh! No way, girl!" Alya zealously declined, grabbing Marinette by the wrist. "With what you're going through right now, I'm not going to let you out of my sight!"  
"Uh, but-!"  
"No 'but's! Let's go! We can catch a bus and chat on the way; I'm great at multi-tasking that way!" Alya insisted with a wink. "Thanks for breakfast, mom! We'll be right back!"

* * *

 

Talking about boy problems while on a bus headed for a crime scene to nab some footage of Ladybug and Cat Noir was not how Marinette imagined she'd be spending her morning.  _'Only Alya would think to do this…'_  Marinette thought bitterly, wondering how she was going to slip away and transform into Ladybug so she could come to Cat Noir's aid. Alya only seemed to take Marinette's distraction as a sign that she was still feeling bummed about their discussion about Marinette giving up on Adrien, and thus kept pushing the issue.

"So you understand what I meant about moving on? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings… and maybe you shouldn't abandon ALL hope – there's always a little hope, of course… but I just don't want to see you hurt." The excited blogger rambled on.

Marinette knew she meant well, but pressing Marinette's boy issues while another boy was dealing with much bigger issues waiting for Ladybug…  _'How to wrap this up quickly?'_ Marinette tried her best to answer in a way that would satisfy Alya - to make her think she had closure, even though that wasn't quite the case… she just had bigger problems to deal with right this moment.

"Yeah, it wasn't something I wanted to hear, but you're right… It's silly of me to keep hoping when he hasn't shown any interest for so long." Marinette replied, hoping it would satisfy her friend's concerns. "Besides, I'm sure there's plenty of other guys out there like Adrien… right?" She added, hesitantly. Though to be honest, she wasn't sure she actually believed that just yet.

"That's the spirit, girl! You know what? I'll help you! Let's see… what are the things you like most about Adrien? That'll help us be on the lookout for other cool guys." Alya cheered with a wink.  
Marinette had to ponder that one awhile… after all, it was hard to describe perfection. "Well... He's loyal, caring, helpful, always a gentleman, always thinking about the positive, super cool, and he's got the dreamiest eyes…" the hopelessly smitten teen listed, sighing as she imagined those eyes in her mind's eye.  
"Whoah, slow down and remember to breathe!" Alya laughed, "Lucky for you, most all boys have eyes."

Before Marinette had a chance to argue that no one had eyes quite like Adrien's, the bus jolted to a stop and screams pierced the air. The passengers flocked to the doors to flee, but jumped back in horror as a projectile of webbing attached to the side of the bus, blocking the exits.  
Thinking fast, Marinette located the emergency exits windows on the opposite side of the bus and yelled at everyone to follow her lead as she opened one and leapt to the ground.  
"Wow, there's Cat Noir! I've gotta go film this!" Alya cried excitedly, whipping out her phone as she crawled out of the window behind Marinette.  
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up after I help the rest of the passengers!" Marinette excused herself, thankful for the opportunity to get away.

* * *

 

It was challenging engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a spider, particularly when you only have two hands yourself but your opponent has eight. Even with his fancy footwork and bo staff to give him a  _leg up_ , so to speak, Cat Noir was finding himself overpowered by the rampaging arachnid. Thus it wasn't much of a surprise when, after his attempt at an airborne attack on the spider's head, he was whacked aside by one of its many legs and sent flying into a waiting web.

"I've gotta  _hand_ it to you, you've landed me in a  _sticky_  situation." He quipped, hoping he could distract the many-legged fiend from attacking the innocent bystanders it was currently targeting while he tried to writhe and wriggle his way across the web to reach his baton where it lay in the upper corner. As he was reaching for it, the most beautiful sight descended into his range of vision, gracing it with her dazzling smile and sparkling eyes.

"Mind if I drop in?" Ladybug teased, releasing the yo-yo string that was holding her up and gracefully landing on the lamp-post that hedged in the web entrapping him.

"Always a pleasure, m'lady, though my heart was growing faint at the thought that you might not show." He smirked, hastening to add, "Honestly I'm nearing my limit here… I've been saving my cataclysm for when you show up, but I've been fighting all night and not sure I can back you up sufficiently…"

Ladybug was a little taken aback by his behavior. It wasn't like him to be so serious. Usually he was the one to be positive and cheer her up when  _she_  began to despair in battle, not the other way around.  _'Guess it's my turn, though it's not the most convenient time for that after last night… but it sounds like Cat Noir had it worse! You can do this, girl! The greater good is at stake!'_  "Well let's unravel the situation quickly then" she encouraged with a wink as she tugged the corner of the web, freeing her partner.

"What's the situation?" Ladybug asked, running and vaulting herself into the air to engage the spider.  
Dodging a hairy arm that nearly pinned him, Cat Noir replied, "There's a bunch of, uh,  _changed_  people, but there doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern. I fought a twelve-foot kid who just wanted his mommy, some girl with a bat, this giant spider – "  
"Duck!" Ladybug cried for Cat to dodge as she lassoed her yo-yo around the spider, attempting to bind its legs.  
"Yeah, actually, there was a crazy duck too; how'd you know? That one was hard, what with the feathers and all…"  
"So we're dealing with a circus?" she clarified as she successfully toppled the spider with a tug of her yo-yo string.  
Giving the arachnid a good bump on the head with his staff to render it unconscious, Cat Noir answered, "Seems so. Most of the changed people have been popping up within a few blocks, so the ring leader must be nearby. I'm pretty sure it's a girl. I always hear her voice talking with the victims before something strange happens."  
"But you haven't seen her?"  
"No, only heard."  
"I thought cats had great night vision."  
"Of course, m'lady, though I must say  _you're_  the greatest vision-"  
"This is no time for jokes, Cat!" Ladybug cut him off with an annoyed grimace and finger to his advancing face. As flattering as it was – though she was sure that since he was such a flirt, the compliment wasn't unique to her anyway – they had to quickly track down and subdue the akuma. Hadn't he just explained that he was up all night and his power was waning thin? He really didn't know when to take things seriously…

Defeated, Cat Noir slumped his shoulders and admitted, "I never saw because she was too far away and I was focused on my opponent. I only heard her because I also have enhanced hearing as a cat. She was always a block or two away from the victim I was engaging at any given time."  
"Hm… Well if the attacks always stay close to the Louvre, chances are, that's where she's hiding. Come on!" she reasoned as she sprinted towards the museum.  
"Right behind you, my lady."

* * *

 

Getting there was easier said than done, and the pair had to subdue a few other pawns on their way, but otherwise the area was clear – all non-transformed humans having evacuated the area - and once there, the villain was easily spotted. Perched atop the pyramid stood the akuma victim, eyes closed with a hand cupped to her ear, like she was waiting for something, listening intently.

"Ladybug!" A voice cried from behind a mailbox nearby. Ladybug turned to address the voice, and so did the villain. "Save me!" the woman hiding cried, eyes wide in fear.

Running to her aid, Ladybug reassured her, "Don't worry, madam, we'll protect you." Lending a hand, Ladybug helped the woman to her feet, but was startled when the woman's eyes darkened and her grip on Ladybug's hand tightened maliciously. A heinous laugh filled the square and Ladybug swiveled her neck to identify the source. Voice echoing off the glass sides of the pyramid, the ring leader stated simply, "Too easy."

"You're the one who'll be easy!" Ladybug rebutted and made to run towards her, but found herself stopped by the lady she had just helped. Looking back, she saw that what was holding on to her was no longer a human, but a beast of some sort, and it didn't look keen on letting her go.  
"What have you done to this poor woman!?" the spotted hero demanded, trying to squirm her way out of its clutches.  
"Oh, Sarah? Don't worry about her… she got what was coming to her. Now she'll never lie to me again. She's my puppet to control." The villain said offhandedly while fingering a brooch-like jewel on her bodice. The motion caught Ladybug's attention and at once she recognized the piece as the René Lalique butterfly brooch from the exhibit they'd seen yesterday.  
"Amber?" Marinette asked hesitantly, wondering what could have akumatized the lady who'd seemed so happy and proud of her father's work yesterday.  
"The name's Bitter Truth!" Amber corrected vehemently. "Sarah! Attack!"

Ladybug found herself being jettisoned from Sarah's beastly grasp and narrowly escaped being flattened against a building, stopping herself just short with her yo-yo slung around the post box. "Cat Noir, the akuma's in her butterfly pin!" she cried, just in time to return her attention to the beast that was charging her.

* * *

 

"Worry not, m'lady, Cat Noir's on the case!" the smirking feline hero saluted before pole-vaulting his way towards Bitter Truth.  
The villain only smiled viciously as he approached, taunting him, "Feeling confident, are you, little kitty?"  
"I prefer that only m'lady calls me that." He replied suavely, taking a swing at her with extended baton.  
"Hm, evasive one, aren't you?" She asked, which struck Cat Noir as odd. Technically, he was the one attacking and she was the one dodging.  
"Tell me, Cat Noir, does it ever bother you how much Ladybug orders you around?"  
_'Something's not right…'_  he thought, ' _She's not actually attacking me… just taunting me… like she's waiting for something…'_  "What do you want, Bitter Truth?" he ended up asking bluntly.  
"Exactly!" she cackled, "I'm sick of everyone lying to me! They'll all pay!"

It took a moment for Cat to understand her seemingly random response before he realized that she thought he had asked if she wanted actual truth, when he had just been addressing her by her villain title.  _'I'm so good at puns, I make them when I'm not even trying!'_  
"There are better ways of getting to the truth; why don't we talk about this calmly?" he suggested, staying his baton, but keeping it at the ready.  
"You dare to say that while you keep trying to hit a poor girl with a stick? How violent!"  
It was then he heard Ladybug's cry, and realized that Bitter Truth's evasion and banter must've been to keep him distracted from his lady. Angrily furrowing his brow, Cat growled, "I'll deal with you later!"

Launching himself into a backflip off the pyramid, Cat Noir sprinted towards the beast, who was inches away from sinking its enormous teeth into a pinned Ladybug.  
"Ladybug!" He called, and in perfect sync that can only be achieved by knowing one's partner perfectly, Cat Noir slid the end of his baton under the beast at the precise moment ladybug's legs lifted the beast's body an inch off the ground to allow room for him to do so. Leveraging the pole over a nearby bench, he vaulted the beast into the air, freeing the trapped bug.

"Thanks for the save, Kitty." Ladybug smiled as she picked herself up and brushed the dust from her suit.  
"Anytime." Cat Noir practically purred, "Trade ya?"  
"Exactly what I was thinking!"  
"Great minds DO think alike…"  
"Don't go getting a big head, now… There's still work to do!"  
_'Hopefully not too much more… I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out…'_ Cat Noir thought to himself, the soreness of his fatigued muscles becoming more prominent with every passing moment.

* * *

 

Ladybug left the beast to Cat Noir and approached Bitter Truth, and by the smug look on the villain's face, this is what she'd wanted all along. What game was she playing at? "It doesn't have to be like this, Amber. I'm sure Sarah's sorry for whatever she did to you." she chided, absently playing with her yo-yo as a thinly veiled threat.  
"Your kitty friend said something similar. Have you two always been so close?" Bitter Truth jeered, maintaining a safe distance from the spinning yo-yo.  
Taken aback at the question, Ladybug stammered for words to respond. ' _What does she mean by "close"?'_  "Uh, I mean, we're partners… in crime-fighting!"  
Bitter Truth smirked in a way that made the hairs on Ladybug's neck stand on end. It wasn't a playful smirk like Cat Noir's, but a self-assured sneer that seemed to say she'd come to a conclusion on how best to defeat them. But what was she planning? To fluster her to death?

"Aren't you gonna attack me, Ladybug? I'd recommend not waiting too long… Your boyfriend's fading fast!"  
"Okay, first off, he's NOT my boyfriend, and second – " Ladybug started, getting seriously annoyed. She didn't need this kind of teasing so soon after her heart and hopes with Adrien were just broken.  
"Better not let him hear you say that, you'll break the poor kitty's heart."  
"What? He's not – I'm not… I mean…"  
"Oh? What's this? The bug can't admit her feelings?" Bitter Truth continued to rapid fire on Ladybug's opening.  
"Grr, I don't have the slightest romantic interest in Cat Noir! Now be quiet and let me – "  
"Gotcha." The devilish word, while nothing special in and of itself, seemed to cast a spell over Ladybug's whole body. It had felt like the static shock one gets from touching a doorknob after dragging their feet across a rug, only it started at her head and flowed down to her toes with a strange warmth, like her whole body had been transformed into putty.

"You're mine now, you little liar." Bitter Truth declared triumphantly, and to Ladybug's horror, she found that she was completely paralyzed. Her body started moving away from Bitter Truth without her consent like she was a puppet on strings.  
"W-what's going on? Why can't I move on my own!?" Ladybug demanded as she was made to descend the pyramid, getting further away from Bitter Truth.

Cackling with glee, Bitter Truth commanded, "I already told you; you're under my control now. Now, be a good little ladybug and fetch me Cat Noir's miraculous."  
Try as she might to fight it, Ladybug's body kept moving on its own; she was only an observer, being dragged along for the ride as she approached her partner, still in combat with the beast. That is, until Bitter Truth spoke up. "Sarah, I release you; you're no longer needed."

* * *

 

Having just wound himself up for another assault, Cat Noir stumbled to a stop when the beast retreated, once again taking the form of a woman. Noticing that Ladybug was on the approach he thought,  _'Oh, she must've finished things up with Bitter Truth! Perfect! I'm exhausted.'_  He smiled broadly as Ladybug made her approach, but she yelled at him, "Run, Cat Noir! It's a trap!"

Only momentarily confused, he was forced to snap out of it as a yo-yo swung towards his head – in a deliberate way, quite unlike the many other times her yo-yo found its way to his skull.  
_'Crap, this is bad!'_

"Ladybug, what'd she do to you?"  
"I-I don't know, but I can't control my body! You've gotta run!"  
_'This is bad, very bad… Ladybug can usually overpower me on a normal day, and I'm already exhausted… What should I do? What should I do!?'_  
"Hand over your miraculous!" Bitter Truth and Ladybug demanded in unison, but Ladybug amended, "Don't listen to me; she just made me say that!"

' _Hm, my miraculous… that gives me an idea… It's risky, but if I don't act now; I'm done for!'_  Cat Noir thought as he grinned smugly. "Cataclysm!" he yelled, which at least caused Ladybug and Bitter Truth to pause. Turning to face Bitter Truth, Cat Noir declared confidently, "Release Ladybug or I destroy this miraculous with my cataclysm!" As he said this, he poised what fingertips he could around his ring threateningly.  
"What?! No, Cat, you can't!" Ladybug protested, back in command of her voice, but hand still twirling her yo-yo, ready to attack him.

Bitter Truth overcame her initial shock and panic too quickly for Cat Noir's liking and countered, "I have a better idea! Ladybug! Strangle yourself with your yo-yo!"  
To Ladybug and Cat Noir's horror, Ladybug complied and started gasping for air.  
"NO!" Cat Noir called desperately, rushing towards his lady to attempt to assist her, even if it meant using his cataclysm on her yo-yo.  _'What have I done?!'_ the black-clad lad lamented,  _'I only managed to make matters worse!'_  
"Nuh-uh! Not so fast! Ladybug, come over here, and pause strangling yourself for now." After Ladybug had complied, Bitter Truth continued, "How about you give me your miraculous, or else I'll have Ladybug kill herself."

Cat Noir nearly agreed right away, but he felt a tug in his gut that told him Ladybug wouldn't approve of that.  _'Ugh, this is what Nino was talking about! As a hero, I should be willing to do whatever it takes to stop the akuma! But… my lady…'_ Hesitating, he ventured a glance at the face of the lady who'd captured his heart. She looked so fragile in that moment, even though he had only known her to be nothing if not strong and nigh invincible. She was still short of breath even though the string had loosened from her neck and her eyes had become clouded with genuine fear. They had faced some dangerous foes before, and he'd seen her concerned, but never fearful. Oh how he'd give anything in this moment, even his miraculous, to remove that worry from her eyes and whisk her away to somewhere safe… but then what would become of Paris with this akuma still on the loose? Ladybug would run right back into battle, no matter how scared she was. She took her duties seriously that way, and that was one of the things he loved about her. But if he didn't hand over his miraculous, Ladybug might actually die! There was no way he could let that happen! He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let that happen!  _'Get it together, Cat Noir… Ladybug's life depends on it! Think!'_ Wracking his brain for any course of action, he finally had an idea. Yes, there was a better way to resolve this! They both had ample leverage…

With renewed gusto, Cat Noir brandished his cataclysm and proclaimed, "Listen up, Bitter Truth… Either both of us are going to get what we want, or neither of us will. I'll give you my miraculous if you release Ladybug from your control."

* * *

 

"Hm… a reasonable deal. Go ahead and take it, Bitter Truth. With the Cat Noir miraculous in our hands and no Cat Noir to assist The Ladybug, I'll soon have both miraculouses in my possession!" Hawk Moth advised via his telepathic link with Bitter Truth.

"Yes, Hawk Moth…"

* * *

 

"Very well, Kitty. You've got yourself a deal." Bitter Truth agreed.  
"No, Cat Noir! Don't trust her! I'm sure she's lying!" Ladybug protested in panic, only to get slapped across the face.  
"How DARE you call me a liar! I am THE Bitter Truth! I cannot lie! I hold both myself and all of Paris to their word!"

"Hey! Don't lay a finger on Ladybug!" Cat Noir demanded angrily, flexing a cataclysmic finger dangerously close to his miraculous and meeting Bitter Truth's eyes with a deathly glare.  
"Whoah, Kitty, calm yourself, I won't. Now give me your miraculous."  
"Let's establish a couple ground rules first. If I give you my miraculous and you release Ladybug, you must not look at me, so that my true identity does not get revealed, and you will withdraw for the time being so that Ladybug can regain her strength." Cat Noir demanded.  
"You strike a hard bargain, but you have my word. On that note, I will not release Ladybug from my control until your miraculous is in my hand." She demanded, descending the pyramid with Ladybug in tow, extending her hand to receive his miraculous and turning her gaze the other direction.  
"Fair enough."

"What!? No, Cat Noir, you can't!" Ladybug cried frantically, trying to fight off the effects of Bitter Truth's control of her body, but having zero success.  
"I have to, m'lady." Cat Noir replied in a pained whisper, turning to meet her gaze with the softest look she'd ever seen in his eyes.  
"No, you don't!" she pleaded desperately in her state of powerlessness, "If you hand over your miraculous, Hawk Moth will become twice as powerful and you won't be around to help me defeat him! I need you! Paris needs you! You need to think about the greater good!"  
_'Looks like I can't put Paris above my lady after all…'_ he thought solemnly, yet he was at peace with his decision. "I'm sorry, Ladybug…" was all he said as he stepped forward to follow through with the deal.

Momentarily stunned by his actions, Ladybug could only watch in horror as Cat Noir dispelled his cataclysm on an innocently bystanding post box and proceeded to approach Bitter Truth, fingers twisting his ring with the intent to remove.  
Meeting Ladybug's eyes pleadingly, he addressed her once more, "Just do me one last favor?"  
"Don't be ridiculous, this won't be the last-!" she tried to argue, and oh, what he wouldn't do to hold on to that feistiness a little longer. But the time to say goodbye to 'Cat Noir' had come.  
"Don't look when I transform, okay?"  
"Cat…" was all she could say, still in disbelief.

Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, Cat Noir poised his fingers on his ring and began to slide it off into Bitter Truth's open hand.  
"Please, don't do this, Cat Noir, we'll figure out something…" Ladybug continued to plead, eyes still trained on him in the hopes that maybe, if she didn't close them, he wouldn't go through with it. He didn't stop, however, and she waited until the last possible moment to squeeze her eyes shut out of respect for his wishes.

In one swift motion, he slipped the ring from his finger into Bitter Truth's eagerly waiting hand then grabbed Ladybug's hand, pulling her away from Bitter Truth.  
"Okay, you have the ring, release Ladybug!" He demanded impatiently, a part of him worried that even though she had claimed she was bound to the truth, she'd just played him.  
"Done." Bitter Truth said simply, fingers closing on his ring as she made her exit, no doubt to deliver the miraculous to Hawk Moth.

Ladybug slumped to the ground the moment the word was uttered, so Adrien led the dazed girl to a nearby bench, sitting her down. When she made no move to do so herself, he delicately proceeded to untangle her yo-yo from around her neck, as it was still wrapped too tightly for him to fully relax. Her silence was beginning to worry him, though he figured it must be because she was too disappointed in him to speak.

He was just finishing his work detangling the yo-yo string when she finally spoke, though it was only one strangled word, forced out as her body began to quake with emotion. " _Why?"_  
It didn't help that he already knew she was disappointed… All it took was that one affirming word from her to make his heart sink. Despite knowing it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, he confessed anyway in a sorrowful murmur, "Because… to me,  _you_  are the greater good."

Adrien knew it was time for him to go, no matter how much he desperately wanted to stay by her side. But she couldn't keep her eyes closed forever, and she'd need time to prepare for her rematch with Bitter Truth. So taking her hand in his, ever so momentarily relishing how much better it felt to hold it barehanded instead of in his usual gloves, he placed one last farewell kiss upon it and whispered, "Farewell, my lady… and good luck".

* * *

 

From her hiding place in the shadows around the corner, Alya nearly dropped her phone, which had been recording the whole exchange. "No way… Cat Noir is Adrien!?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if Marinette likes pancakes or not, but having a bakery for a home, I assume she's a fan of sweet things, and since pancakes are my favorite breakfast indulgence, there you have it. No actual basis on the show for her sudden guilty pleasure in this chapter…
> 
> I also have no idea if there's a time limit on Miraculous powers beyond the time that elapses after they use their special power… can they stay suited up indefinitely? I doubt it since kwamis need energy to fuel their powers. I just assumed that the reason for needing to recharge after their super power is because they're expending a lot of energy at once… but even if it's not all at once, they'd need to recharge after powering their wielder for a long time, right? But for the purposes of this fic, I made the assumption that kwamis can keep it up for hours, but both they and their wielders will become more fatigued as time goes on, so by the time Ladybug shows up on the scene, Cat Noir is reaching his limit.
> 
> The fact that Cat Noir is allergic to feathers is revealed in the episode "Mr. Pidgeon".
> 
> Like all Miraculous episodes, I named my fic after the leading villain's akumatized name: Bitter Truth.
> 
> I realize that Cat Noir's Miraculous is on the same hand as his cataclysm comes from, and thus the posture needed to achieve a cataclysmic destruction of his miraculous is a difficult one… but not impossible… plus he's got a little extra reach with those claws. I also have no idea if a miraculous is indestructible or not… one would think that they aren't, but for the purposes of this story, I'm gonna say that at least Cat Noir's cataclysm can destroy a miraculous.
> 
> This chapter is the reason for the Teen+ rating. I just felt that forced suicide via strangulation was too violent for lesser rating and far darker than the typical Miraculous episode…
> 
> Some of you may be wondering where Plagg went after Cat Noir removed his ring, since in the episode "Lady Wi-Fi", when the ring was accidentally knocked off his finger, Plagg immediately materialized. However in the Origins episodes (I'm forgetting if it was part 1 or 2), when Marinette removes her earings, Tikki immediately disappears. These events seem diametrically opposed to one another, but I have a couple theories. Since Cat Noir's ring was removed while he was transformed, the ring removal only triggered a normal de-transformation. Marinette was already de-transformed and so when she removed the earrings, Tikki disappeared. I don't think that theory makes a whole lot of sense though, so I'm more apt to think that the reason is that it matters whether or not the removal was intentional. When Cat Noir's ring comes off, it was an accident, and so Plagg was still around. But when Marinette removed her earrings, it was by choice - she was opting to decline the contract with the kwami, and so the kwami disappeared. So in the same fashion, Cat Noir is voluntarily terminating his contract with Plagg, and so Plagg disappeared instead of re-materializing.


	4. Part 4 of 6: Act III

**Bitter Truth**  
_Part 4 of 6: Act III_

Alya staggered through the vacant streets of Paris in a daze. It was just as well that the citizens of the city had long since sought refuge in their homes due to the akuma on the loose, for Alya processed her thoughts much better when she spoke out loud. “All this time, Cat FREAKING Noir sat right in front of me at school!?” With an exasperated toss of her arms over her disappointment in her apparent lack of observational skills, the aspiring reporter growled, “and I can’t even DO anything about it! The biggest scoop of my life falls right into my lap and I have to keep my mouth shut!?”

Now she understood why reporters seemed to be solitary, bitter people. They probably had come to a crossroad like she had, torn between the desire to discover and share the truth with the world, and betraying the trust of a friend… Glancing at the phone in her hand, she hovered her finger over the ‘delete’ button for the incriminating video stored on it for the umpteenth time.

“Gah! I can’t do it!” she cried, yet again unable to bring herself to completely erase the footage. It seemed like the right thing to do, yet something held her back. “Wait! I can just edit that part out! No need to let so much other great footage go to waste!” She cheered herself as she was struck with the idea, “Besides, Cat Noir had better thank me simply for the fact that I wasn’t live streaming! Not that mom would ever let me again after the astronomical data bill she got the first time… …yeah…” It was a sad place to be in, having to encourage yourself with forced justifications.  Not knowing what to do with herself as the inner battle raged on, she clenched her teeth over her finger, hoping the mild pain would keep her grounded in reality.

“Come on, Alya, Adrien is your friend! You can do this!” she pep-talked herself, pace quickening to match the pounding of her nervous heart. She knew what she must do… Cat Noir – that is, Adrien – was her friend, and she had to do everything she could to make sure his secret did not get out… But oh how she wished she could at least tell SOMEONE, preferably her best and most trustworthy friend, Marinette. Goodness knows she just needed to get this doozy of a scoop off her chest. But Marinette was Adrien’s friend too, as was Nino, which meant it was not her place to tell his friends his secret… So she was doomed to a fate of keeping it solely to herself, hoping she would not burst under the pressure and make a mistake, accidentally revealing his identity in a moment of duress. The less evidence there was, the easier it would be to mitigate that pressure and be the friend she knew she should be. Taking a breath to steel herself, she once again poised her finger over the garbage can icon, inching closer, closer…

“Oh, there you are, Alya!”

With a startled “Gah!” and some nervously awkward footwork that could rival Marinette’s, Alya whirled around, whipping the phone behind her back to hide it from inquiring eyes. “Oh, mom! You uh, scared me!” She hadn’t realized she’d made it home already, and her mom was just stepping out, apron in hand, no doubt heading out for her lunch shift.  
With a puzzled look, the chef asked, “Everything okay, honey?”  
“Oh yeah, sure, mom! Everything’s super!” Alya reassured, and without thinking, gave a double thumbs up – with phone in hand. Realizing her blunder and rushing to shove the electronic into her bag as nonchalantly as she could, she managed to do so with about as much finesse as Marinette would have had. Panic building, Alya searched for an escape route, wanting nothing more than to get to the safety of her room, away from anyone who might discover the secret she was now protecting.

Her mom popped an eyebrow questioningly, but decided she was running late enough for work as it was. “I’ve got to head to work now, but I just wanted to let you know that the school called and classes have been delayed due to the akuma attack. Classes will resume in the afternoon, after lunch break.”  
“Uh, no thanks! Not hungry! Lots of homework to do! Love you! Bye!”

Marlena stared after her daughter’s retreating form, blinking cluelessly and wondering what had gotten her so distracted. “Hm… maybe Marinette’s just rubbing off on her..” she mused with a shrug, continuing on her way so that she would not be late for work.

* * *

It was all a blur, like it had just been a bad dream and if she could just pinch herself hard enough, she’d be able to wake up and leave this scary place. Forearms red and bothered already, she barely felt the tweeze of her fingers against her numbing flesh. _‘Still asleep? Maybe just once more…’_

She was vaguely aware that her kwami hovered nearby, clearly concerned as she flew this way and that, wondering how best to get Marinette out of her state of shock. It’d been a miracle that she’d even managed to get Marinette back home and to her room without the girl’s parents noticing the ladybug kwami steering the dazed girl by the hand. Finally speaking, the bug pleaded, “I know you’re upset Marinette; I can’t blame you… a lot of upsetting things have happened in the past day… but you’ve got to pull yourself together!”

“Tikki…” Marinette breathed as she forced herself out of her stupor, though doing so only brought on a new wave of emotions: fear, panic, loss, anger, confusion. “Why? Cat Noir, he… he’s…” Marinette stammered.  
“He was very brave, and you need to focus so that his sacrifice was not in vain – “  
“It makes no sense! Why would he just give himself up like that!?” Marinette suddenly cried, anger taking its turn as the winning emotion from among the conglomerate that fought for dominance of her emotional state.

Sighing in defeat, Tikki resigned herself to the fact that she’d have to deal with Marinette’s post-traumatic stress before they could draw up a game plan for taking down Bitter Truth. “I would’ve thought that was obvious for awhile now, Marinette… Cat Noir is in love with you – with Ladybug.”  
“No, that’s not – it can’t be true! He only ever acts like a Casanova… All that flirting was never anything special; he treats all girls that way!” Marinette insisted, repeating the words she often told herself whenever Cat Noir’s flirting had threatened to get under her skin. There’d been more than one occasion where she’d _felt_ something as a result of his advances, but she refused to acknowledge it, routinely repeating the mantra she just recited to Tikki. Cat Noir had nothing if not proved that theory by flirting with both her Ladybug side and her Marinette side, not knowing they were the same girl. Thus she concluded that his advances were nothing special and so she wouldn’t let him gain any ground – her heart could only be swayed by a more honorable and exclusive man.

“You have no proof of that, Marinette.” Tikki chided, “You yourself can be a flirt when you’re in the mask, but you’re anything but when you’re out of it.”  
Wincing at the harsh but truthful retort, Marinette muttered a defensive, “I only flirt back so he won’t know he gets to me sometimes…” before arguing, “But for that matter, you have no proof that he did what he did because he loves me.”  
“Actually I do. There is an ancient proverb that goes something like this, ‘You will not find a man more full of love than the man who sacrifices himself for the one he loves’. Cat Noir has sacrificed himself for you three times now, though the last two times didn’t involve the loss of his miraculous.”

Unsure what instances Tikki was referring to, Marinette prompted, “What do you mean? When?” Though as she spoke, one horrible memory she’d buried deep began to surface, about that one time she was about to be erased and her time stolen, but when she had opened her eyes, it was not Timebreaker who was touching her, but Cat Noir. He’d stepped between her and the villain and embraced her as he faded into oblivion. She had been rattled by that incident, but with a little time travel, the situation had resolved itself and Cat Noir had been none the wiser, his future self that sacrificed himself never having existed in the resolved timeline.

“Judging by the look on your face, I see you recall at least one of those times.” The cheery kwami smiled, glad that Marinette was finally starting to see what she’d always been so blind to. “Twice before now he’s stepped into the line of fire for you, knowing it could very well cost him his life. If that’s not love, I don’t know what you could possibly think it is.”

Marinette sat on her chaise lounge, the strength leaving her legs as it all came together and the realization left her reeling. _‘Yet you aren’t completely surprised… a part of you has known it all along and just didn’t want to acknowledge it… not when it could mean you’d have to acknowledge your own unknown reactions to him that you’ve always found so confusing… Like that first time, when he took an arrow for you which put him under an evil spell, and you kissed him to break that spell… That had you confused for days.’_

“I guess… I really don’t understand him… or really know him after all…” Marinette finally reasoned, hanging her head in shame. If she’d understood her partner better, would she have been able to prevent this nightmare?  
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Marinette… If you didn’t know him at least decently well, you wouldn’t be able to partner with him at all! Come on, you can tell me a thing or two you know about Cat Noir, can’t you?”  
“Well sure, but it’s not anything that everyone else doesn’t already know… He’s loyal, caring, cool, a gentleman…” Marinette listed, then froze. Why did that list sound so familiar? _‘It sounds a lot like what I told Alya earlier… they’re almost the exact same, although I still believe that Adrien has unique eyes… Although… now that I think about it, Cat Noir’s eyes are also stunningly green… But if that’s all I can say about either of them, maybe I never knew either of them all that well…’_

“Marinette, I know this is a lot for you to process, but I really think we need to come up with a plan of action before you need to go to school. Bitter Truth could strike at any moment!” Tikki pleaded, pulling Marinette out of her thoughts.  
“What do you mean? We just face her like we face all villains, though I admit it’ll be a challenge without Cat Noir…”  
“Marinette, this villain is a bigger challenge than before, and not just because we’re down a person. You had the chance to take her out, but she managed to disarm you, taking control of you and removing Cat Noir from the picture.” Tikki delivered, direct and solemn. She didn’t want to get Marinette down, but right now, she needed her to focus and be better prepared so she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice – there’d be no Cat Noir around to save her this time.

The revelation hit Marinette right between the eyes. Up to that point, she had sort of, well, implicitly pinned the blame for her now-solo status on Cat Noir. But thinking back, she could’ve just taken Bitter Truth out immediately, instead of letting her taunts get to her. If she’d only done that, Cat Noir wouldn’t have sacrificed himself and she wouldn’t be in this situation at all… “I really messed up, huh, Tikki…” she confessed, drawing her knees up to her chest. It was her fault the akuma got away. It was her fault that Hawk Moth now had a miraculous in his possession. It was her fault that Cat Noir was gone… and if he hadn’t been there to clean up after her mistake, it’d be her fault that Hawk Moth had won… Now she had to try and fix things herself, without him… But how was she supposed to do that alone? He was the one who always encouraged her when she didn’t feel up to the task; he was always the one who had her back so she’d be sure to win.

“Cheer up, Marinette! We can still beat her! We just need to figure out how her powers work and how to get the advantage!” her affectionate kwami chirped cheerily. “First thing’s first, how did she gain control of you? We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again or we’re done for!”  
“Well, she said something about being unable to lie and wanting to hold everyone in Paris to their word…” Marinette mused, rising to pace her floor as she recalled the details of the battle.  
“So her control happens when she learns a truth about you?”  
“No, I don’t think that’s it… If she wants everyone to be truthful, I don’t think she’d reward honesty like that… Cat Noir said that before a new victim would appear, he’d hear Bitter Truth’s voice… Somehow she’s able to ensnare people she converses with. I think that’s why she doesn’t attack physically, she tries to keep you talking until she can control you.”  
“But what’s the trigger? If it’s not truth, is there maybe a keyword or something?”  
“I… I think it’s the opposite of truth. Right after I felt myself fall under her spell, she said, ‘You’re mine now, you little liar’. But I don’t know what I lied about.”  
“Think, Marinette! What were you talking about?”  
“Well… she was teasing me about Cat noir…”  
“What did you say?”

Marinette nibbled nervously on her thumbnail as she brought to mind the exact words she said and the implications they brought with them. A part of her didn’t want to voice them, nor to test their theory… But the fate of Paris and Cat Noir depended on her honesty, so she admitted in a timid and quiet voice, “I said that I didn’t have any romantic interest in Cat Noir…”  
Tikki gasped and brought her hands to her mouth, which suspiciously looked like it was smiling – wait, was that a GIGGLE she was suppressing?! What was going through her kwami’s mind!? Feeling her face warm, Marinette instinctively sank into her desk chair in an attempt to hide her face and hurried to add, “But I don’t understand how that was a lie! My heart belongs – er, _belonged_ to Adrien! And I only just decided I should move on last night; I wouldn’t have developed new feelings that quickly!”

Unable to hold it in anymore, Tikki chortled and admonished, “You’re just a little naïve, Marinette, but it’s possible to be attracted to two people at once, there’s nothing wrong with that… You just need to be devoted to one if you love them… Tikki nodded sagely, making Marinette sink further into her chair in embarrassment.  
A part of her wanted to completely deny all possibility, but the proof was in the akuma – she’d been caught red-handed. Nevertheless confused, Marinette decided to get some clarification. “But, you saw how devoted I was to Adrien… Surely there wasn’t any room for attraction to anyone else!” Marinette protested, indicating the collage of Adrien photos around her room.

With a sigh, Tikki rebutted, “I didn’t want to say this because it’s something normal for many girls your age and typically passes with time, but one can take ‘devotion’ too far until it becomes an obsession. Obsession can make you blind to many things… the feelings of others, even your own feelings. It can also blind you to a person’s true colors. To me, it seemed like you were so obsessed with Adrien at times, you became blind to who he truly was, and to what you truly wanted.”

Marinette’s head spun. It was like Tikki was only reaffirming details that she’d shoved into the nooks and crannies of her mind, not wanting to let them share the large space she’d set aside for thoughts of Adrien. The largeness of that space, and how empty it felt when she decided to clean it out, stood in conviction of Tikki’s accusation that she’d let her ‘love’ become an obsession. _‘Add that to the list of failures I’ve accumulated recently…’_

Noticing her chosen’s depressed posture, Tikki was quick to add, “Don’t worry, Marinette, you’re young still, and you already made the decision to change; that’s a great sign of maturity and I’m proud of you. What’s important is that we now know how Bitter Truth managed to get control of you and how to avoid it.”  
Smiling and raising her head a few inches from behind the back of her chair, Marinette agreed, “You know what? You’re right! We now have a game plan! I just need to avoid talking with Bitter Truth and take her down quickly! Then we’ll be able to take back Cat Noir’s miraculous and reunite the team!” _‘Although now I’m a little worried about seeing Cat Noir again… now that I’ve come to realize a couple things…’_  
“That’s the spirit!”

* * *

It was quite possibly the most awkward moment the friends had ever experienced as they all sat in their regular seats waiting for their first class of the afternoon to start. Each was nervously fidgeting with something, trying to look busy so the others wouldn’t bother them, as each had gone through something traumatic that morning and weren’t ready to deal with normal life.

Alya kept nervously turning her phone over and over, silently praying that Marinette wouldn’t start a conversation, as she wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk normally without bursting out into a confession about knowing who Cat Noir was because Marinette was her best friend and she needed to vent, but no, there was no way in heck she could let that happen because Adrien-flipping-Noir was sitting RIGHT THERE and now she really needed to support her friend in moving on from Adrien because he loved Ladybug as CAT _FLUFFING_ NOIR.

Little did she know that Marinette was similarly imploring whatever deities who would listen as she nervously tapped her pencil on her sketchpad, pretending to be engrossed in brainstorming some clothing designs. _‘Please don’t let Alya ask me how I’m doing with the whole moving-on-from-Adrien thing, I’m too worried sick for Cat Noir and freaking out over how I’m gonna defeat Bitter Truth to worry about matters of the heart… and even if I did have time for girl talk, how am I gonna explain that I might have feelings for two different guys, and one of them is a guy I work with secretly and can’t even tell you about?’_

Adrien had returned to his pen-chewing habit, feigning interest in doing a final edit on the homework sitting in front of him when in reality his thoughts were with Ladybug, worrying if she was still hurt from her near-strangulation, if she was somewhere safe and regaining her strength, if she was scared to face Bitter Truth again, if she could ever forgive him for handing his miraculous over to their enemy…

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late!” Nino greeted with a smile, ignorant to his companions’ individual turmoils. When none of them seemed to notice him, he slid into his usual seat and inquired, “Okay, who died? What happened? What’s wrong?”

“NOTHING!” the three answered adamantly in unison, surprising each other in the process and glancing appraisingly at the others wondering what their deal was and if it could rival their own.

Misinterpreting their glances as unified communication, Nino raised his hands in mock surrender and placated, “Alright, alright, take a chill pill dudes. I trust you’ll let me into your club when the time is right, geesh… you all just better not be joining forces to prank me or something…”

They were saved from having to explain themselves when Chloe sauntered over exclaiming, “Adrikins! Where’s your ring!? I just had a matching one made for myself and I wanted to see them together today!”

“CHLOE!” Alya exclaimed loudly, abruptly, and apparently without reason, for she then stumbled for the words to follow up. Practically the whole class turned to look at her in confusion, for the outbreak was rather abnormal for the usually ‘chill’ girl. Little did they know that at Chloe’s comment, she’d had a mild panic attack, imagining the worst and that Adrien’s secret identity of being Cat Noir would be discovered if Chloe focused too much on the fact his ring was missing. In hindsight, she figured she’d over-reacted, but it was too late now. Good thing she was a quick thinker. “Er, that is… I was just wondering if you were going to the school dance in a couple weeks?” she finished feebly, taking a page out of Adrien’s book and rubbing the back of her head nervously.

Her three closest friends gaped at her in bewilderment, for Alya was probably the person least likely to want to make small talk with the obnoxious blond. Chloe, however, was unfazed, and quickly maneuvered the conversation back in a direction of her choosing – which of course meant towards Adrien. “Uh, DUH. Anyone who’s ANYONE is going to the dance, right Adrien? I’ve actually been meaning to ask you, would you be free this Thursday after school for tux fittings? I want to make sure your tux will match my dress.”

* * *

“Er… why would they need to match?” Adrien asked innocently, bless his heart, eyes wide in naivety.  
“Well it’s not strictly required, but if we’re going to be the King and Queen of the dance, we should at least make sure we don’t clash. You know, it’d be super convenient if we just went to the dance together…” Chloe drawled slyly, “Then people could see right away that not only do we look great individually, we look superb together. They’d practically be begging us to accept the title!”  
“I thought you’d be going with Sabrina, you know, as friends.” Adrien replied evasively. He actually had no idea if it was taboo to go to a school dance with a friend… After all, Nino had as good as told him that you had to couple up to go to one of their school dances, anyway, but Adrien had watched a lot of TV in his lifetime – for one has a lot of free time when you spend your childhood under house arrest – and at least in those shows, teens – girls especially – would go to dances as friends.

“Oh yes! We already got complimenting dresses!” Sabrina exclaimed helpfully, to which Adrien let out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding.  
“Ugh, I -told- you that was before, when I thought Adrien couldn’t go!” Chloe fumed, turning on her best friend in frustration.

 _Pouncing_ on the opportunity, Adrien piped in, “You girls have fun then, I couldn’t POSSIBLY impose on your prior arrangement; I’d feel simply AWFUL.” Usually Adrien prided himself on being an excellent actor, but he found he couldn’t resist the urge to let his sarcastic side show itself ever so slightly – and man, did it feel good. Perhaps he was shedding masks in more ways than one? _‘Well if I can’t be Cat Noir anymore, it would be nice to have another outlet… but I can’t show too much or everyone will realize how lame I am and I’ll lose what little friends I do have…’_   He suddenly felt guilty for his slight harshness at Chloe, for obnoxious or not, she was still in his top five friends… ‘Cause, well, he honestly didn’t have any more friends than that. _‘And I suppose I can’t count Ladybug as one of my friends anymore… so I only have four.’_ Stuck in his downward spiral of depressing thoughts, Adrien didn’t notice that the teacher had arrived and had effectively forced Chloe to give up her pursuit of him so she could return to her desk for the lesson.

He was lost in his thoughts for the entirety of the lesson, his thoughts remaining on Ladybug, like they had been all morning, with the exception of Chloe’s short interruption of course. It was due to this that he didn’t respond until Nino shook him by the shoulder with a, “Hey, man, you okay?”  
“Hm?”  
“Dude, class ended like two whole minutes ago… and I guess you didn’t hear that awesome story I was just telling you a moment ago…”  
“Oh, sorry Nino, guess I’m just a little tired…” Adrien didn’t particularly like lying to his friends – it only added to his paranoia that he’d someday lose them – but it sort of came with the territory of being a superhero. Besides, what was he supposed to say? _“Well actually, dude, I’ve been gallivanting around Paris as Cat Noir, but I majorly messed up this morning… failed Paris, let Ladybug down, and thanks to my screw up, we could all be under Hawk Moth’s reign before the school dance arrives, so yeah… there’s that.”_ Nonetheless, he’d been smiling for the camera since he could crawl, so plastering on a fake smile that always passed for polite, he packed his school bag and prepared to walk with Nino to the library for their study period.

Maybe he’d started to lose his touch, or maybe Nino had just gotten to know him too well, but either way, Nino brought up the issue again en route. “You sure you’re just tired? You seem kinda upset…”  
_‘I am… and I really wish I could tell you… I feel like I’m falling apart…’_ Adrien silently lamented, and now that he knew his actor’s façade was failing, he cast about for any sort of excuse, but it was hard to think of one when the only thing that’s been occupying your thoughts it the one thing you’re trying to avoid talking about. _‘Oh right! The one time I wasn’t thinking about Ladybug was when Chloe was talking about the dance…. Such a shallow reason, but it’s all I’ve got…’_

Donning what he hoped was a convincing tone, Adrien responded, “Alright, you caught me… I guess I am just a touch worried about the dance. I’ve never gone to one, and now that I have permission to go, I don’t know what to do… except the obvious, of course, which is to avoid getting roped into going with Chloe.”  
“I already presented a solution for that, but you turned it down.” Nino shrugged, subtly baiting his friend – Alya would be so proud.  
“…You did?” A genuine look of confusion clouded Adrien’s face as he tried to recall.  
“Yeah. If you escorted Marinette, you’d have a water-tight excuse to avoid going with Chloe.”  
“...Wouldn’t that be using Marinette? What kind of friend would that make me?”  
“It’s not using her if she wants to go, dude.”  
“It is if I don’t ask for the right reasons.”  
“Still hung up on Ladybug?”

The mention of his lady sent a dagger of guilt through his heart. Adrien stopped walking, causing Nino to halt, face his friend, and cast him a confused and inquiring look. Trying not to panic, Adrien put whatever faculties he could employ into burying his worry for Ladybug and guilt over his failures to save them for later when he was alone and could process them better. Focusing the remainder of his energy on the conversation at hand, he answered, “It’s just that Marinette always seems so afraid of me. I think she may be intimidated by the fact that her favorite designer is my father or something. If I asked, she’d probably feel obligated to go because she’s a good friend, but then she’d have an awful time. She’d have more fun going with someone else.”

“You sure about that, bro? Just between you and me… I kinda think the reason she seems scared is because she likes you.” Nino said with a wink, throwing a conspiratorial arm across his buddy’s shoulders, like he was letting him in on the deal of the century.  
“I find that highly unlikely.” Adrien refuted with a polite smile. After all, when a person likes someone, they do all they can to impress that person, which usually involves a lot of talk, flirtation, and in his case, jest. That’s how he acted when he liked someone, anyway, but perhaps he was being a tad narrow-minded? But still, he was pretty sure Chloe liked him, and she didn’t act scared of him at all, and then there was Nino and Alya, neither of which had acted afraid of each other.  
Giving Adrien a friendly jab to the ribs, Nino trilled, “Well I guess there’s only one way to find out…”

Now Adrien was starting to get annoyed. After all, there were more important things to worry about right now… and he knew that Nino meant well, but he couldn’t understand why Nino was trying to push the matter so far when it went against his principles. _‘I guess that’s it… he doesn’t understand my convictions. How to explain them without giving away that I’m devoted in my love for Ladybug as Cat Noir?’_ “It’s like this, Nino… Even if, against all odds, Marinette DOES like me… It would be wrong of me to take advantage of that when I’m still ‘hung up’ on Ladybug.”

Not deterred, Nino argued, “But, if you don’t even give her a chance… I kinda thought you two had hit it off when you were practicing for that game tournament a few months back…”  
With an exasperated sigh, Adrien replied, “That’s just the thing… I admit that I have thought – Fleetingly! don’t give me that smug look, Nino – that she was attractive in various ways… but then I realized it was because, in those moments, she reminded me of Ladybug.”  
“Well there you have it; Marinette can help you get over Ladybug!”  
“Dude, why are you trying so hard? Would it really be fair to Marinette to treat her as... as a _replacement_? I don’t want to lose a good friend by doing something so selfish.”

Perhaps he’d taken it too far? Nino didn’t have any retort and was just regarding Adrien with an expression he couldn’t place. _‘Great… in my attempt to explain how I don’t want to lose another friend, will I now lose my best friend? Ugh, I really have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to friends…’_

But instead of being angry or upset at Adrien’s rant, Nino finally smiled and shocked Adrien by pulling him into a one-armed ‘man-hug’. “You know what, Adrien? You’re a real gentleman, and I got mad respect for you sticking to your guns. Sorry I didn’t understand and pushed you so much. I won’t bring it up again.”

* * *

He would never complain about Plagg again. As annoying as the creature could be, he was at least another presence in his cold and empty room. Adrien flopped onto the couch face down and grumbled in frustration if for no other reason than to make a noise. He finally felt like he understood the phrase ‘silence is deafening’ now that the cat kwami was no longer present. _“Ever the drama queen!”_ Adrien imagined Plagg would have said in response to his actions just now, and Adrien would’ve welcomed it, sass and all, if only to have some company again. _‘Guess I never realized how much I cared about the little guy. I also now understand that other phrase about not knowing what you have until it’s gone…’_

Finding the continued silence unbearable, Adrien turned the TV on, flipping through channels to see if there was anything interesting. A news headline caught his eye, announcing the return of Bitter Truth, who was now terrorizing people at the Pont Des Arts bridge. “Oh come on, that’s barely honoring our agreement! I had in mind at least one night or something!” he shouted angrily at the TV as if Bitter Truth could hear him. He glanced out the window, noting that the sun was beginning to set. If Bitter Truth utilized his miraculous, Ladybug would be at a disadvantage in the dark. This villain sure knew how to play dirty.

Before he’d really thought it through, Adrien found himself hoisting himself up to his usual escape window, feeling a touch dizzy as he truly noticed for the first time just how high up he was. This was going to be interesting without his Cat Noir powers. But his determination knew no bounds, as there was nothing that was going to stop him from trying to help his lady any way he could – even if it meant going as his civilian self… scaling down the side of the building without claws… and possibly mis-stepping and plummeting to his death from the fourth floor… yeah... An idea suddenly occurring to him, he turned back and retrieved a red charm bracelet – the one that Marinette gave him - from the coffee table. “A little extra luck wouldn’t hurt.” He remarked with a small smile, pocketing the trinket and returning to the window, confidence renewed.

* * *

“Didn’t wait long, did you, Bitter Truth?” Ladybug greeted as she landed to confront the villain, retracting her yo-yo.  
“Ah, Ladybug. So happy you could join. How’s your precious little kitty faring? Oh wait, that’s right, he’s not the kitty anymore, _is he?_ ” Bitter Truth taunted, but Ladybug had already resolved that she wasn’t going to have any of it.  
“Nice try, Bitter Truth, but I’m not gonna fall for your attempts to get under my skin this time. I plan to end this VERY quickly.”  
“Splendid idea!” her opponent grinned suavely, taking something out of her pocket. As she slipped it onto her finger and it reflected a drop of setting sun, Ladybug gasped as she realized just what it was. “I do hope to end this quickly as well, for cats are creatures of the night and I plan to start it off productively so I can enjoy the rest of it at my leisure.”  
“Give that back! It belongs to Cat Noir!” Ladybug demanded, twirling her yo-yo and charging.  
With a sinister chuckle, Bitter Truth easily dodged and before Ladybug could correct and charge again she cried, “Claws out!”

Ladybug cursed under her breath, her confidence ebbing away at the thought of having to face Bitter Truth with the addition of Cat Noir’s powers. _‘Okay, no big, just end this quickly! No holds barred!’_ Assuming the position, Ladybug tossed her yo-yo into the air and shouted “Lucky Charm!”  
It seemed like time stood still as Ladybug assessed the situation – Bitter Truth was mid-transformation, her butterfly pin about to be covered by the black cat transformation so she had to think fast. Her ladybug vision highlighted her lucky charm in hand – a powerful magnet – the pin threaded through the button hole of Bitter Truth’s vest, and a nearby skateboard an innocent bystander had abandoned when they fled the scene at Bitter Truth’s arrival.

Launching herself onto the skateboard, Ladybug propelled herself towards Bitter Truth, extending the magnet out in front of her as far as she could reach. There was no way she’d reach Bitter Truth in time; her transformation had already finished the mask, the ears, and the suit was quickly covering her body. _‘Come on, magnet! Do your thing since I’m not gonna get there in time!’_

At the last second, Ladybug saw a blur and felt a ‘click’ as something made contact with the magnet. With a cry of victory, Ladybug momentarily forgot that she was still on a skateboard – careening towards Bitter Truth, who was now fully clad in black. It just felt so _wrong_ seeing someone as Cat Noir who was very clearly not her partner. Sure, she’d seen another person wear the suit before, but he’d been a complete copycat, looking exactly like Cat Noir. But Bitter Truth looked nothing like Ladybug’s counterpart, and beholding her left a bad taste in her mouth – or maybe that was just that metallic taste one gets in their mouth when they collide with another object – hard.

Ladybug and Bitter Truth went flying in a tangle of black and red – again reminding Ladybug how _wrong_ this all felt. She’d had her tumbling mishaps with Cat Noir before, and sure, they hadn’t been a picnic or anything, but when compared to somersaulting with the enemy who’d taken your comrade in arms from you, it certainly did seem like a picnic in hindsight. When they finally came to a stop, Ladybug leapt up and away with all the swiftness of a coursing river, then held up her magnet in triumph as she noted that the butterfly pin was still there – along with some weird glass marble-like teardrop thing on a keychain. _‘Huh, must’ve been in a pocket or something.’_

With a giddy cry of victory, she removed the butterfly pin from the super-magnet – which actually took a bit of effort, standing on the magnet while she pulled at the pin with her hands – and smashed it underfoot. This was it! Soon she’d capture the akuma, get Cat Noir’s miraculous back, and everything would go back to normal! Easy Peasy! What had she been so worried about again?

But the akuma never came. Ladybug had been standing at the ready, finger poised over her yo-yo to activate its akuma-capture mode, but as the milliseconds turned into seconds, the dark butterfly never appeared. _‘Huh…?’_

The akumatized im _paw_ ster – _‘Oo Cat Noir will love that one_ , _I’ll have to tell him later!’_  the scarlet hero mused with a self-satisfied smile – started cackling as she regained her ground, brushing the dust off her – nay, Cat Noir’s – suit.  
“I’m simply _Chat_ grined to tell you this – but you just wasted your Lucky Charm.” the feline villain sneered.

Oh it was ON now. Lucky Charm or no Lucky Charm, Ladybug internally vowed to take Bitter Truth down hard – NO one else was allowed to make cat puns, especially while they donned his suit. It was a mockery to everything he stood for: heroism, altruism, and goofy witticism.

“I’ll be taking _that_ ” Bitter Truth announced as she snatched up the magnet and keychain Ladybug had left on the ground using Cat Noir’s baton. Ladybug lunged for her, figuring the keychain must be where the akuma really was if the villain was bothering with it. The leather-clad lady easily leaped in a very cat-like fashion out of Ladybug’s reach.  
Undeterred, Ladybug proclaimed, “You know it’s only a matter of time before I defeat you, Bitter Truth. I know all Cat Noir’s moves and I’ve _never_ lost to him.”

Vaulting herself up onto a lamp post and perching there like a cat – like Cat Noir always had a habit of doing - Bitter Truth swung the keychain mockingly, discarding the magnet in Ladybug’s direction. Ladybug dodged of course, but that didn’t seem to discourage the fiend from her attacks nor her taunts. “Ohh? Perhaps he was just being _Mr. Nice Kitten_ , taking it easy on you~ I think I’ll be a _bugger_ challenge. I quite like these cat powers so far; I think I need a suitable name to go with it. What do you think of ‘Bitter Noir’? Kinda sounds like dark chocolate, doesn’t it?”

Ladybug’s earrings beeped. _'Has it really been a minute already? No time to waste!'_ “Quit stalling; don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to!” Ladybug redirected, pursuing the villainess who now wished to be known as ‘Bitter Noir’. _‘Ugh, she makes Cat Noir’s nicknames and puns sound like sheer genius in contrast…’_ the speckled hero reasoned, not wanting to admit to herself that it mattered more to her _who_ was joking as opposed to the actual contents of the joke.  
With sarcastic turn of her lip, 'Bitter Noir' purred, “Oo, impressive. The bug knows I’m trying to run down the clock on her transformation. Doesn’t change the fact that you won’t be able to catch me!”

The two continued in a cat-and-mouse chase up and down the bridge, Bitter Noir’s stalling tactics unfortunately proving to be rather effective. That is, until some projectiles of – _‘Was that an empty cup? A half-eaten cheeseburger? A wadded up piece of paper?’_ – refuse of some sort disrupted their chase.

* * *

Alya was getting some of the BEST shots for the Ladyblog; the bridge was such a cinematographic backdrop for the fight, and the natural boundaries made it impossible for bystanders to crowd around without getting in the line of fire, so Alya was able to get plenty of wide and sweeping shots without them getting cluttered by any ‘extras’. She was therefore rather surprised when a familiar golden mop of hair entered the shot as she turned her phone to follow Ladybug and Bitter Truth’s movements.

Slightly torn between being upset that he’d ruined a great shot and being ecstatic that he had still shown up for the battle sans-suit, Alya exclaimed, “Ca-Adrien!” _‘Crap, I nearly let slip that I know his secret… Quick, wipe that smile off your face, Alya! Rather than being happy that Cat Noir still showed up, you should be surprised that Adrien is here!’_ “Er, what brings you here? Thinking of joining the blogging business?”

* * *

 _‘Oh snap, of course it’s weird that I’m here as Adrien – what reason could Adrien have for being here?’_ Adrien panicked slightly, but it didn’t show. _‘Having to act practically my entire life has its benefits sometimes.’_ “I was just, you know, out for a jog. When I heard strange noises, I decided to check it out.”

He was saved from having to explain further as Ladybug and Bitter Truth came dangerously close to the pair’s hiding spot behind a trash can at the foot of the bridge. Ducking for better cover, Adrien got right to the point, asking Alya what the situation was so he could figure out how best to assist his lady.

“Unfortunately, Ladybug used her lucky charm about a minute ago securing the wrong item – the pin wasn’t where the akuma was hiding. I think it’s the keychain Bitter Truth has in her hand, but now she’s using the Cat Noir miraculous and playing cat-and-mouse with Ladybug until Ladybug’s transformation wears off.” Alya summarized without hesitation. If it had been anyone else, she would’ve shushed them for polluting her recording with unnecessary audio, but seeing as how this was really Cat Noir in disguise…

“Heh heh, ‘cat-and-mouse’, good one, Alya!” Adrien remarked before he could think better of it. _‘Keep it together; you’re Adrien right now, even if it feels like you’re Cat Noir when you’re this close to Ladybug…’_ It seemed Alya was equally surprised at his un-Adrien-like behavior, as she just stared at him blankly. _‘Right, moving on…’_ “Erm, uh, is there any way we could possibly help Ladybug? Without Cat Noir around, she could probably use the backup.” He suggested, but as he and Alya looked about for ideas from their hiding place behind the garbage can, he had a stroke of brilliance. “Of course! The answer’s right in front of us!” he exclaimed, excitedly removing the lid from the refuse receptacle.

Then his nostrils caught a whiff of its contents… and he nearly met his lunch again. Maybe it was because he’d grown up pampered in a sterile environment, maybe it was the model in him, or heck, maybe it was even the cat in him, but whatever the cause, he was instantly repulsed by the odor that made Plagg’s camembert smell like a fresh bouquet of roses. _‘It’s for Ladybug; it’s for Ladybug; it’s all for Ladybug!”_

“Great idea, Adrien!” Alya exclaimed, putting Adrien’s heroism to shame as she didn’t even hesitate to plunge a hand into the repulsive mess and start chucking who-knows-whats at Bitter Truth. Taking a deep breath and holding it, Adrien followed suit, resisting the urge to cringe as his hand wrapped around something squishy. Then aiming well – he’d feel simply awful if he hit Ladybug with the foul substance – he let it fly. _‘On the off chance I get that suit back… I’m gonna have to make sure I take five showers as Cat Noir before taking it back out on the field now that I know where’s it been…. Sorry, Plagg!’_

* * *

“Alya! Adrien!” Ladybug exclaimed, both happy to see them and grateful for their help, but also anxious that they were dangerously close to the battle. Another beep sounded from her earrings. _‘Not to mention if I run out of time before this battle is over, they’re gonna find out who I am!’_ “Thanks for the assist, but you need to leave! Bitter Truth is dangerous!”  
“I told you my name is Bitter Noir!” the faux Cat Noir screeched, wiping a bit of slime off her arm and lunging at Ladybug.  
“Really? ‘Bitter Noir’? That’s the best you could come up with?” Adrien scoffed, then ran his hand nervously over the back of his neck like he wasn’t sure where that outburst had come from.

“Seriously, guys! Run!” Ladybug commanded, more determined than ever to end the battle now, before her friends got dragged into it. Though at that moment, Alya landed a well-aimed toss of an old mustard-smeared wrapper on Bitter Truth’s face.  
“Score!” Alya yelled victoriously, and out of the corner of Ladybug’s eye, she saw Adrien fist-bump Alya in reward.

Taking the opportunity afforded her by Alya’s tennis arm, Ladybug swung out her yo-yo, aiming for the keychain and successfully knocking it out of her grasp. As Bitter Truth blindly fumbled to catch the keychain again, she instead managed to grab the string of Ladybug’s yo-yo, and smirking, she yanked it, pulling it off Ladybug’s fingertip and to herself.   
_‘Ah well, it won’t do you any good…’_ Ladybug thought with a smirk as she instead rushed to intercept the path of the falling pin, and catching it, she dashed it to the ground like she was making a touchdown. But the sound she heard wasn’t the shattering of the keychain, but the tone of her earrings giving the two-minute warning.

“Huh? It just… bounced?” That was a first. Usually her enhanced strength made sure she could easily destroy whatever object the akuma had possessed.  
“Did you really think my life’s work; the legacy of my father, would be that fragile?” Bitter Truth cooed, a self-satisfied sneer forming at the corners of her mouth as she reeled in the last of the string to Ladybug’s toy-napped yo-yo.  
Dumbfounded, Ladybug could only blurt the first words that came to mind, “What is it?”  
“A Prince Rupert’s drop – perfected!”  
“…who?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the trashy (pun intended) chapter, guys… Tune in next week for the conclusion of the battle with Bitter Truth, more angst, and more fluff!
> 
> The saying “You will not find a man more full of love than the man who sacrifices himself for the one he loves” was derived from John 15:13, and as far as I know, my particular wording is unique. I deviated from the original wording, as my intent was to adapt the old fashioned wording from John and modernize it, and give it a bit more of a romanticized feel.
> 
> The sacrificial instances Marinette remembers are from the episodes Timebreaker and Dark Cupid.
> 
> Did you notice the hats off to Disney’s Mulan I snuck into the chapter?
> 
> I know I said I’d be using the English names instead of the Fench names for this fic, but I couldn’t resist the urge to use the French version for a pun… So just in case you didn’t know, Cat Noir’s French name is Chat Noir, so when Bitter Truth says she’s “Chatgrined”, she’s making a pun of 'chagrined' and 'Chat'.
> 
> As you may have noticed, I bumped the anticipated number of chapters from 5 to 6. When I finished outlining the rest of the story, it ended up being much longer than anticipated, so instead of two remaining chapters, I decided to split it into three. Keep a lookout for the next installment next week!


	5. Part 5 of 6: Act IV

**Bitter Truth**  
_Part 5 of 6_

“Oh! I know about Prince Rupert’s Drop!” Alya cried, “Ladybug, you’ve got to crush its tail! The spherical part of it is impervious to most forms of physical pressure!”  
“Wow, impressive, Alya!” Adrien remarked, glad at least one of them knew how to be of use to Ladybug.  
“You’d know it too if you’d paid attention on our field trip to the Reneé Lalique exhibit.” Alya teased with a wink.

 _‘I was a little preoccupied trying to restrain Chloe from invading my personal space…’_   he mentally defended himself, not caring to dwell on the fact that he’d failed Ladybug yet again. _‘Alya’s actually helping, but what am I doing? I couldn’t bring that knowledge to the table, I barely landed any hits on Bitter Truth, and had a hard time even bringing myself to touch the garbage… Seems like Ladybug is better off without me. Maybe Alya should become the new Cat Noir…’_ Instinctively, Adrien reached for his good luck charm in his pocket and held it in his hands, closing his eyes briefly and wishing upon a star that whatever good luck this may grant him, that it may pass to Ladybug instead. He was powerless to do anything else, but if there was even one chance in a billion that this charm was lucky, he’d give it up for her in a heartbeat.

* * *

“Good luck with that, _Lady Luck_.” Bitter Truth provoked, boasting, “My father had the idea to encrust the tail in amber to give it an extra layer of protection. Doing so is an extremely delicate process, and resulted in many _shattered_ attempts, but I have finally succeeded! It’s invincible!” Cackling with self-assured victory, Bitter Truth dangled the yo-yo tauntingly, beckoning Ladybug to come closer.

“We’ll see about that!” Ladybug threatened emptily. Honestly, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She was partner-less, yo-yo-less, lucky charm-less, and idea-less, more or less...  
To her dismay, Bitter Truth didn’t allow her time to think as she yawned, as though bored, and declared, “Well it’s been fun, Ladybug, but this cat is done toying with her prey. I can’t wait to get your earrings and complete the collection!” With a flourish, the villainess hooked Ladybug’s yo-yo onto Cat Noir’s bo staff and pocketed the weapons on the back clip. Striking a pose, she yelled triumphantly, “Cataclysm!”

Only momentarily caught offguard by the turn of events, Ladybug turned tail and ran to evade the onyx glow of her opponent’s outstretched hand. _  
‘Crap! I’m gonna die! Holy cow, I’m gonna die!’_ the polka-dotted heroine panicked, having realized her limited options a moment ago. _‘Okay, Marinette, this is no time to lose your mind. You aren’t completely without assets – you’ve got the akumatized item – Prince Rupees Drop or whatever - haven’t you? That’s gotta count for something, even if it IS nigh indestructible… wait… destruct… Cat Noir’s cataclysm! It can destroy anything!’_ Ladybug frantically looked about as she dutifully evaded Bitter Truth’s pursuit. What could she use?

When your signature color is red, and your beetle-senses often made you color-blind to every wavelength besides it, one has a way of singling in on other objects of the same shade. It was this predisposition that made her lucky charm – that is, the bracelet that she made and presented to Adrien as Marinette – catch her eye, hanging from Adrien’s intertwined hands. That could work.

“Adrien! Toss me that charm!” She called, hoping he had good aim. If she could manage to catch it, hook the keychain onto it, and swing it out in front of her as she did a 180 to face Bitter Truth while she had her cataclysmic hand outstretched to reach Ladybug… Bitter Truth might not see it coming, thus unable to correct her path, and Ladybug could apply the cataclysm to her akuma’s host object…

Going on the offensive, Ladybug side stepped the villain and bade she follow by provoking, “Hah! You can’t hold a candle to my… Cat Noir!”   
She had hesitated mid-taunt, realizing she had been about to say, _“You can’t hold a candle to my flame!”_ , and she wasn’t sure what part surprised her more: the fact that she made a pun worthy of Cat Noir, or that she had nearly referred to him as her flame. _‘Wait, why am I referring to him as my ANYTHING? Keep your head in the game, Ladybug!’_

* * *

Adrien had never been so proud of his Ladybug. Sure, she often looked cool, pulling off awesome stunts, never failing to protect Paris even once as she put her intellect and quick thinking to the task. But now, seeing her do so without even the use of her usual Lucky Charm super power, facing off with his own Cataclysm power… It was too brilliant for words. As the glass from the drop exploded, it showered Ladybug in a glittering array of stardust that caught the light of the setting sun and refracted it in all directions. The effect was mesmerizing, making it seem like Ladybug was aglow in gold, heralding her for the winner she was. He had become so lost in his reverie, he hardly noticed as Ladybug finished the job, retrieving her yo-yo, capturing the akuma, and tossing the super magnet into the air with a shout of “Miraculous Ladybug!”

So entranced was he, he rushed forward, fully intending to fist-bump her as always, before he remembered that he wasn’t Cat Noir. Mentally kicking himself for his near giveaway, he cast his gaze to the ground, ashamed.

* * *

 _‘Alright! Success!’_ Ladybug squealed internally before turning with her arm partially extended to receive her obligatory fist bump from Cat Noir… but instead was met with empty space. She vaguely noticed that Adrien was in the background, staring sadly at the ground, but she was too caught up in the sinking feeling she’d suddenly acquired as she remembered that Cat Noir was no longer there to back her up. All at once, her victory felt hollow. What was the point of vanquishing Cat Noir’s enemy if he hadn’t been there to rise in triumph with his miraculous back in his possession. Speaking of… _‘I’d better get that from Amber before she goes home…’_

Retrieving the miraculous from the dazed woman, she also stooped and picked up the charm bracelet she’d borrowed from Adrien that had fallen when the keychain attached to it was obliterated. Holding an item in each hand, she briefly paused to wonder at the fact that the two items belonged to two different guys, but each was greatly important to her in equally different ways. Subconsciously, she felt a tug in her heart that seemed to whisper, ‘ _Maybe the_ _type of their importance isn’t so different after all_ ”, but Ladybug suppressed it, reasoning that she was only comparing them because Adrien had been heroic today, just like Cat Noir.

A chime from her earrings prompted Ladybug to act quickly, so she clenched the hand that contained Cat Noir’s miraculous and hurried to return Adrien’s charm in her other.

* * *

“Hey guys, thanks for the assistance earlier; you guys were awesome!” Ladybug beamed at the two.  
“Nah, you were the one who was awesome!” Alya asserted with a thumbs up.  
Adrien agreed with a positive grunt.  
“Well thanks, but I couldn’t have done it without you!” Ladybug insisted, holding out the red bracelet to Adrien.

Blushing at the compliment and the fact that his hand brushed hers as he retrieved the charm, Adrien refused, “No way! You’re so awesome; you don’t need anyone’s assistance!”  
“Er…” Ladybug mumbled, hand sheepishly playing with her hair.

 _‘Is that… a little blush under the mask?’_ Adrien wondered.

Ladybug’s expression fell, however, a look of loss in her eyes as she admitted, “That’s not true at all…” Then, turning her attention to Alya, she abruptly demanded, “I need you to do me a favor!”  
“What? You’re about to change back any second!” Adrien protested, seeing that there was only one dot left on her earrings.  
“I know, but this is more important. Alya, I need you to post this on your Ladyblog…”

* * *

Alya stared, blinking a few times in surprise, not sure what could warrant such importance that Ladybug would risk revealing her identity. She acquiesced, however, and turned her phone to film Ladybug as she spoke.

“Cat Noir!” Ladybug addressed with purpose, causing Alya to tense instinctively and cast a glance towards Adrien. She could’ve sworn she’d seen him flinch as well, but his features were now neutral, though his gaze never strayed from Ladybug as he stood out of view behind the hero. She couldn’t be sure, but she’d be sure to review the footage later – it’d be interesting to study Cat Noir’s reaction to Ladybug’s message in the same shot.

“Now that I’ve gotten your miraculous back, I need you to meet me where we first had the chance to discover each other’s identities. I’ll be waiting there tonight, eyes closed, so you can retrieve it. Bug out!” With a wink, Ladybug leapt out of the frame, vaulting herself over the nearest building as a faint, final beep was heard, and a flash of light lit up the darkening skyline.

* * *

Thankful for Alya’s consideration during the editing process, Adrien reviewed the Ladyblog’s footage from earlier that evening, when Ladybug left a message for him – well, Cat Noir. Not that it would’ve mattered much; his face was already all over Paris thanks to his modeling work, but he was still grateful that Alya blurred the background so that even though he was standing behind Ladybug at the time, one would’ve needed to know him already to recognize him in the shot. It had been hard to stay ‘in character’ as his lady called for his return as her partner, and while he was sure people wouldn’t be able to tell that he was actually Cat Noir, his facial expressions may have betrayed his feelings for Ladybug anyway. An invitation to a secret rendezvous with the love of your life? Who wouldn’t visibly melt on the spot? His heartstrings had been tugged to the point that he nearly reached out to take her hand in order to kiss it like he usually did, and declare to her that if she would take him back, he’d serve with renewed ardor. Something had held him back though, beyond just the knowledge that she needed to make her escape.

Something had taken root that morning when he’d failed to protect Ladybug and let her down by giving up his miraculous. Seeds of self-doubt, that he’d struggled with his entire life, sprouted forth at what was the biggest failure of his whole life. Surely Ladybug realized how much he’d messed up; surely she would want a new partner now… Even if she claimed she wanted him back now, she’d probably only want him to fill in until she’d secured someone better to take his place.

Conflicting desires raged within him; he longed to go see Ladybug where she waited for him, to be reunited with his love and to fight alongside her once again, but he knew his mistake had been grave, and he feared both her rebuke and her rejection… Or worse, she could do neither of those things, begrudgingly letting him be her partner only because he had been chosen and she was just that benevolent… and he’d fight every day knowing that he wasn’t cut out for it. The thought of that insurmountable weight of guilt he’d accumulate… He should do the right thing, now, and just let her find a new Cat Noir. The thought of never being able to interact with her again pained him deeply, and it felt like a vacuum had formed in the center of his chest, slowly draining the life from him and leaving him short of breath.

 _‘Ugh, I wish Plagg were here…’_ Adrien lamented as the push-pull battle in his mind took its toll. ‘ _Then I could at least talk to SOMEONE about all this… Though I’m sure he wouldn’t really have an opinion one way or another unless his camembert were on the line…’_

* * *

Education aims to instill the minds of the young with the knowledge they’ll need to make it in the world, but instilling is a difficult process when the mind is half-asleep. Three teens at the Collège Françoise Dupont found themselves in such a state, having had a restless night of sleep prior. For the second day in a row, Nino found them isolated in their own thoughts as he entered the classroom, though today they were also slumped over their desks in exhaustion, whereas the day before they had been more… ‘high strung’ was probably the term that fit best.

“Everything okay, guys? Ya’ll seem bushed.” Nino inquired as he took his seat.

A collective groan emanated from the zombie pack, none of them happy to be disturbed. Alya was the first to give a response, mumbling something about staying up late editing videos for The Ladyblog. Adrien was next to vocalize, saying he’d stayed up late waiting to watch said video on The Ladyblog. Marinette brought up the explanation caboose muttering, “I spent the night in a closet.” with a glazed-over expression.

At the perplexed looks of her friends, Marinette suddenly bolted upright into a standing position, a burst of adrenaline spurring her into sputtering frenzy, “I-I-I mean, I had to CLEAN the closet, an-and it took WAY longer than I thought it would, and, okay, I admit, I may have dozed off once or twice… WHILE CLEANING! B-But then Tik- I mean, my mom! My mom t-told me I could f-finish my duties in the closet tonight! Finish my duties CLEANING! Not finish sleeping, that would be ridiculous! Who’d ever sleep in a closet of all places, ah hah hah hah… haha…” By the end of her impressively awkward fib, Marinette was beet red and she swore she could feel steam pouring from her ears.

“Wow, Marinette, I admit, I’m impressed.” A yellow jacketed girl applauded mockingly, making her way over to the foursome.  
“Uh… what do you m-mean, Chloe?” Marinette asked innocently, but her eyes were now darting left and right, as though she were frightened she’d been found out.  
“I mean that that’s probably the best audition I’ve seen… for the circus. When do you officially join the freak show?”  
Flustered, Marinette sank back down in her seat and buried her face in her arms, wishing more than anything she could just go home, burrow under some pillows, and cry herself to sleep. The past two days had been emotionally draining enough; in her sleep-deprived state, the last thing she needed was the teasing of her classmates.

“That was uncalled for, Chloe.”

Marinette’s head snapped up at the unidentified voice that had stood up for her. When she opened her eyes, she was astonished to find that Adrien had literally stood as well, emerald eyes boring into Chloe’s from a few inches higher. His voice and mannerisms had been calm, but there was a note of authority in his tone and a spark in his eye that conveyed the severity of the offense and how seriously he took it.

Marinette’s mouth dropped open, all strength having left her jaw in awe of the sight before her. ‘ _Adrien…’_ her heart murmured as it fluttered in response to his chivalry.  
  
“Ugh, it was just a joke, no need to get all uptight about it, gosh.” Chloe brushed it off, though she still cast a sneer in Marinette’s direction before turning heel and returning to her seat.

Before Marinette had a chance to ask why Adrien had done that for her or to even just thank him, the teacher entered the room and prompted Adrien to take his seat, closing the window of opportunity.

* * *

There were no more opportunities that day to thank Adrien for what he had done, so Marinette found herself in her room that evening, defeated.

“Don’t worry, Marinette; you can just thank him tomorrow!” Tikki allayed.  
“Yeah, you’re right… but that’s not what I’m most worried about…” Marinette confided, pacing the floor once again as her mind churned. Tikki had told her many a time that she would soon pace a hole right through the floor if she didn’t break the habit, but so far, the floorboards had managed to hold, though each time she turned heel to pace the other direction, an ominous creek would sound.

“What are you worried about then? Are you worried because Cat Noir didn’t show up last night?” Tikki pried.  
Talking as fast as her thoughts were racing, Marinette explained, “Well, yeah, I’m worried a little about that too, obviously… but I literally had to go straight from the battle, to getting you some cookies, to going to the hotel to wait for him… I don’t even know when Alya got to post my message on the Ladyblog, so he may not have even seen the message yet. I’m sure he’ll show up tonight when we go. What I’m more worried about is that before all this mess, I told Alya I’d move on from Adrien and focus on building a friendship with him instead. And after all that happened with Bitter Truth, I realized that my crush on Adrien - or maybe my obsession if I’m being honest - just isn’t as important as building my friendships is… Both with Cat Noir and Adrien. I’d been blind to how good a friend Cat Noir has been as well as missing the chance to simply be Adrien’s friend… and I still want to do that… but If Adrien’s going to keep being so… so… _heroic_ , giving me his umbrella in the rain, showing up to the battle with Bitter Truth, standing up to Chloe for me… my heart can’t take it, Tikki…”

“Cat Noir saves you all the time, how’s that different?” Tikki asked simply.  
“I wasn’t crushing on him at the time.” Marinette responded simply as well, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.  
Smirking, Tikki repeated, “At the time?”  
Marinette felt her cheeks begin to warm, those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings threatening to step out from the corners she’d swept them into. They’d been putting up quite the fight lately, now that the realization that Cat’s feelings for her were indeed true had sunk in.

 _‘Saved by the bell!’_ Marinette exclaimed to herself as her phone chimed, saving her the trouble of answering Tikki and effectively sweeping those dangerous thoughts under the rug once more.  
“Alya! What’s up? …Eh? Adrien has a photo shoot at the Eiffel Tower tonight!? …Of course! I’d love to go! …Oh, wait; I forgot I had something else to do tonight… Er, yeah, finishing that closet cleaning I couldn’t finish last night, yup! That’s totally it! …Oh, no! That’s fine! You don’t have to help me with the closet! Besides, it’s all my fashion design supplies and I’m very particular about how I organize them, so you wouldn’t be able to help anyway… Yeah, I’m sure! Thanks for offering anyway! …Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow! Goodnight!”

When Marinette hung up the phone, she was faced with a smirking Tikki. “…What?” Marinette asked bluntly.  
“I don’t think you need to worry so much about getting over Adrien.” Tikki stated matter-of-factly, but her grin was making the back of Marinette’s neck tingle in anxiety.  
“Wh-what do you mean?”  
“I just mean that in the past, you wouldn’t have refused a chance to see Adrien so easily. You’d either greatly struggle with the decision, or need someone else to talk some sense of priorities into you.”  
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tikki… It was tempting, but to move on, a girl’s gotta start somewhere, and getting Cat Noir’s miraculous back to him is top priority.”  
“Mmhmm…” Tikki hummed, eyes half-lidded.  
“Ugh, you’re just having fun at my expense. Two can play that game. Spots on, Tikki!”

* * *

“Adrien!” Marinette exclaimed, sprinting across the courtyard as soon as she saw him. Hopefully this time she’d get a chance to thank him for helping her a few days ago. Unfortunately, the past few days he’d been out of school for a special photoshoot on the beaches of Normandy for an upcoming bathing suit edition of Gabriel's fashion magazine.

 _“But I look so good in a swimsuit.” Cat Noir teased with a waggle of his eyebrows._  
Marinette banished the memory that came out of left field with a shake of her head.

“Oh, good morning, Marinette. How’ve you been the past few days?” Adrien asked casually.  
_  
‘Not good… It’s nearly been a week and Cat Noir still hasn’t shown up… and it has me so worried…’_ Marinette mused to herself, knowing she’d have to be a little less than honest in her response. “Oh, you know, the usual.” She responded nervously, though she was surprised to find that her nerves came from the fact that she’d just lied, and not because Adrien was making her go weak the in knees. Perhaps it was because she’d had time to harden her resolve to be a friend to him instead of an adoring fan, or maybe it was because she couldn’t spare anymore nerves on something so trivial in comparison to how her nerves were constantly on edge each night waiting for Cat Noir to return.

Becoming aware that her thoughts had drifted back to Cat Noir for the millionth time, Marinette re-focused herself to address her current mission.  _‘_ _Right, if I’m gonna be a better friend to Adrien from now on, I should be asking him about how he’s been the past few days as well!’_ “How did your trip go? Did you get any time to relax?”

* * *

This was new. Marinette was having an actual conversation with him, not stuttering or looking like she needed to go hide somewhere. It took him a moment to recover from the shock, but he cracked a smile, deciding he liked the change, and hoped it would stick around. “Unfortunately not. Father and Nathalie run an efficient operation, and so the only breaks I get on such trips are for necessary things like meals and sleep.” Seeing the concerned look on Marinette’s face, he hastened to add, “But I had a great time posing at the beach! The weather was perfect for it, and the photographer even liked my suggestion of exploring some tide pools, so I got to have fun with that.” _‘How sweet of her to care whether I had any time to myself or not. I’m so glad Dad let me come to this school… Nino, Alya, and Marinette are the coolest!’_

He lost track of time as they conversed on their way to the classroom, and they even had a laugh over a story Marinette told of how while he was away, Juleka had found a beetle in the classroom and decided to keep it as a pet, but when the teacher caught her paying too much attention to her desk, the teacher had thought it was a toy and tried to confiscate it – then proceeded to scream bloody murder when she discovered she was holding a live bug. Before he knew it, they’d arrived at their desks where their friends were already seated. He was a little confused why Nino and Alya were looking at him and Marinette so intently when they entered, but shrugged it off, thinking maybe they had just been surprised that he was back already – the photoshoot in Normandy had originally been scheduled for an additional day. He hadn’t exaggerated when he told Marinette that his father cared deeply about efficiency.

* * *

“Hey guys! Check this out!” Alya invited as the class dismissed for lunch break. The group huddled around her desk as she pulled up a video file on her phone. “Remember when I was akumatized and became Lady Wi-Fi?”  
“How could I forget? I made a permanent mental note to never get on your ferocious bad side.” Nino remarked, inciting a playful jab of Alya’s elbow to his ribcage.  
“Anyways, I had no memory of what was going on when it happened, so I had no idea I’d taken all this footage of Ladybug and Cat Noir… but when I was digging around in my cloud storage for things I could use for the new Cat Noir section I’m adding to the Ladyblog, I found this video that had automatically gotten uploaded to the cloud.”

“Wait, you’re adding a Cat Noir section to The Ladyblog?” Adrien asked, taken aback. He’d never really been featured on The Ladyblog before – not that he minded... His lady deserved every bit of that spotlight; he was more than happy to take the back seat. He got enough spotlight as Adrien anyway, and quite frankly, he was sick of it. So it was surprising that he was once again going to get some publicity, but this time as Cat Noir.

With a knowing sort of grin Adrien couldn’t place, Alya answered, “Indeed! After what happened with Bitter Truth, it occurred to me that Cat Noir doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, so I wanted to take a step towards fixing that.”  
_‘Wait… did she just… WINK at me? Alya’s acting like she knows something I don’t know… But I know something she doesn’t… Cat Noir doesn’t deserve any recognition.’_

“Hey… speaking of Cat Noir…” Marinette timidly interjected, causing Adrien’s ears to perk. Marinette was the only one of his friends he’d managed to get information on what they thought of him as Cat Noir. He may have gone a little overboard that day – trying to put his all into expressing what truly represented himself, curious what one of his friends’ opinions would be of his true self. Her opinion had been favorable when he had asked her about it, but he later reasoned that the reason she could think that way was because Cat Noir was a hero… If he acted his true self as Adrien, without a mask, they probably wouldn’t think it was cool at all… That was what he was going to miss the most about being a superhero… the freedom to be 100% himself.

“What about him, Marinette?” Alya asked of her friend, though for some reason her eyes were trained on him, making him nervous.  
“Um, do you think he’ll really come back and work with Ladybug again? I mean, what if he never saw the message on The Ladyblog?” Marinette finally asked, a look of apprehension marring her usually cheerful features.

_‘Cat Noir NOT checking The Ladyblog? No way I wouldn’t keep up with the latest news of my lady across ALL mediums!’_

“Don’t worry, Marinette!” Nino encouraged, “For all we know, they’ve already reunited! There haven’t been any akuma attacks since Bitter Truth!”

Marinette didn’t seem to be comforted by this, however, so Adrien took it upon himself to help calm her. “Besides, even if he weren’t to return, Ladybug is so awesome, she doesn’t need his help to keep us all safe!” He said in the most soothing voice he could muster, though on the inside, it felt like that hole in his chest was beginning to widen as he audibly shared the truth of his insignificance.

“You’re wrong!” Alya and Marinette cried in unison, standing in their fervor and bearing down on him, as though they were angry he’d think such a thing about Cat Noir – about himself. It caught him quite off-guard, though something inside him ignited at the thought that there may be people who still wanted him protecting Paris even though they knew he’d made a mistake.

“Wow, didn’t know you girls were such Cat Noir fans!” Nino exclaimed. “You’re gonna make the normal guys like me and Adrien feel jealous.” He finished with a wink.

Adrien smiled as Nino brought him into a one-armed hug to indicate their comradery, but said nothing to agree nor disagree with his statement. _‘Bro, if you only knew… But I guess I need to get used to being “normal” now… And why the heck does Alya keep looking at me like that!? I’m beginning to understand what people mean by “If looks could kill”.’_

“I don’t know if I’d say ‘fan’, exactly…” Marinette clarified, and Adrien felt his spark of hope begin to flicker, threatening to extinguish. She continued to explain, however, fanning the flame, “At least not the type of fan, say, Adrien gets, where they’re only interested in his looks... Uh, that is, I’m not saying you don’t deserve admiration for your perfect looks! I mean!”

Adrien waited for the flustered girl to continue as she took a breath as though to reset herself. She’d been doing that a lot recently, though he couldn’t tell why. His hope hung in the balance as she seemed to give it then take it away with each sentence.

“What I mean to say is..." Marinette began again in a much calmer voice, "It’s not like I’m a fan of Cat Noir because of his looks or powers, but because he clearly has Ladybug’s back. If he weren’t around, she wouldn’t have the same success rate like you think, Adrien. He may not get the spotlight, but I think it’s clear that I-er-Ladybug depends on him, and I’m a fan of how he faithfully helps protect the city selflessly.”

 _‘Marinette thinks Cat Noir is selfless?’_ The thought took his breath away. He’d always assumed his selfishness had become apparent to all of Paris when he chose Ladybug over them.

“So, Alya, what’s the video you were gonna show us before we got sidetracked?” Nino asked, breaking Adrien out of his trance.  
Alya begrudgingly returned her attention to her phone, as though she didn’t want to show them after all, but rather focus on the Cat Noir discussion some more.

_‘Hehe, guess she’s a pretty hardcore Cat Noir fan. Glad to know two of my friends like my true self.’_

“So, I found the footage from the hotel kitchen when Cat Noir got locked in the freezer and Ladybug used her miraculous to get him out. Can’t wait to post it to The Ladyblog!” Alya prefaced, playing the video so her friends could watch it.

Maybe it was because he was feeling a boost of confidence from Alya’s and Marinette’s support of him, or perhaps it was because he’d been out of the suit too long and seeing Cat Noir on screen made him itch to let his true persona show, but whatever the case, the words were out before he could stop them. At the point in the video when he – that is, Cat Noir – fell out of the freezer into Ladybug’s arms, he blurted, “Now that is one _cool_ cat.”

His eyes grew wide in horror as he’d realized what he’d just done… he’d just cracked a pun… one of his cheesier ones at that… in front of his closest friends. Now what would they think of him? Would they suddenly realize they were too cool for him and kick him out of the group? No, they were also the nicest people he knew – surely they’d just _cringe_ and bear it, but now have a lesser opinion of him… Once they came to, anyway… they all looked to be as shocked as he was. Adrien looked away and braced himself for the worst.

And then something miraculous happened. A heavenly sound reached his ears. A delicate but joyful chuckle pierced the silence, and he dared to raise his hanging head to see who it was.

Her giggle growing into a strong belly-laugh, Marinette’s humored eyes met his, and he found that he couldn’t help but smile back.  
_‘Marinette… thinks I’m funny?’_ He might have been concerned if it had been someone else laughing – say, Chloe… for her laughs would probably mean that she was laughing AT him in ridicule. Or if it had been Rose, it may have been a forced, polite chortle, only for the sake of not wanting to make him feel bad. But this was Marinette laughing… and he knew her to be someone who wore her emotions on her sleeve – it was easy to tell when she was honest and this was the sincerest laugh he’d ever heard.

Her laughs were soon joined by those of Nino, who managed to say in-between breaths, “Dude! I didn’t know you had a sense of humor! You might even be able to give Cat Noir a run for his money! Way to jump on the ball on getting out of the ‘normal’ zone! I’ll have to start thinking up some jokes too!”

Even Alya joined in the laughter, despite her apparent sour attitude she’d had towards him today. He wished he knew what was troubling her. He’d heard that girls could sometimes get inexplicably upset from time to time for no apparent reason and that the best thing to do is to just give them their space. In any case, he was glad she seemed to be in brighter spirits from his pun.

Adrien scratched the back of his head self-consciously as he joined his friends in laughter. He was pretty sure they were no longer laughing about the actual pun, but at the fact that reserved, no-nonsense Adrien was the one who cracked it. _‘You know… I think I misjudged my friends this whole time… perhaps it’s time I started to trust them a little more with my real self…’_

* * *

“Adrien!” Marinette cried, and Adrien felt a sense of déjà vu. She’d done the same thing that morning. _‘Not that I’m complaining… It’s really nice that she seems to finally be relaxing around me._ ’  
“Hey, Marinette.” He greeted with a gentlemanly smile.  
“Um, I’ve been meaning to tell you something…”  
  
Smile faltering ever so slightly as he thought, _‘Tell me what? Oh no, it’s about the pun isn’t it? And she was all defensive of Cat Noir right before that… She may have laughed it off, but what if she thinks I was making fun of him with my pun?’_ “Er, sure. Go Ahead.” Adrien insisted, despite his worries.  
  
Fidgeting with her purse a bit before answering, she began shyly, “I just wanted to thank you. The day before you left for your photoshoot, I was feeling quite out-of-sorts, but when Chloe picked on me about it… you defended me. I just never got the chance to thank you before now, but don’t think it wasn’t appreciated. It… meant a lot to me.”

Marinette was just full of surprises today, wasn’t she? _‘...Oh! That must be it! Why she suddenly isn’t so intimidated by me and has really relaxed around me… Ever since I stood up to Chloe for her… Does that mean that this whole time she was afraid I’d still side with Chloe over her? That must be it… With the whole gum incident, I tried to help her, but I didn’t rat Chloe out either. Is she that afraid of Chloe that some of that fear was also on me this whole time? I’ll have to have a chat with Chloe… I had no idea how bad this situation was!’_

Adrien beamed at his friend, feeling like an invisible wall that had been inhibiting their friendship had finally come down. “Actually, I’m the one who’s thankful, Marinette. I feel like recently, you’ve relaxed around me instead of always being so afraid… and that means so much me. Thank you, friend.”

‘ _Why is she turning so red!? Oh no… was I too gushy? I was just so happy that I made some big strides in my friendships today… I didn’t mean to go overboard!’_

* * *

_‘Okay, Marinette, just calm yourself! Even if he DOES say heart-throbbing things, you can’t lose your cool! He just said he was happy you’ve loosened up around him, and you can only keep doing that if you keep focusing on the fact that he’s your friend, not your crush, not your idol…’_

Reverting to her old habit of nervous speed-talking and staring intensely at the floor, Marinette clarified, “Er, yeah… I guess I just realized that all this time, I’d been so focused on trying not to mess up so I could impress you – “ _‘Ack! Too honest, girl! It’d be awkward if he found out you used to – and still kinda do – have a crush on him!’_

Realizing that her cheeks were starting to heat, Marinette tried to focus on slowing her speech and regain control. “B-because after the gum incident, I was worried you might think I was a stubborn, close-minded idiot and so I always got so nervous, wondering what the right thing was to say!”

Taking another deep breath, as had become her ritual to clear her mind where Adrien was involved, she finally found the courage to look him in the eye. It felt nice to be truthful with him, even if a little bit of it was twisted to make it sound a little less romantic. Calmer now, Marinette smiled warmly as she spoke from the heart, “And I just decided that I was going to stop worrying about what you thought and just… let things happen naturally. And whether you accepted my friendship or not was up to you, and not something I needed to keep trying to be perfect about… because I realized that in my pursuit to be perfect about it… I ended up pushing you further away.”

* * *

Adrien’s eyes were wide, hanging on every word. _‘So I’m not the only one who worries about being accepted? Marinette’s been just as afraid as I am about this friendship?’_ He felt something… odd stirring inside him as the realization hit him that they weren’t so different after all. He’d lived his whole life in a dark, lonely world, longing to instead be in her world, the world of his friends… a world in the light… Sure, he’d interacted with their world, but he never really felt like he belonged there. Not to the same extent he was able to live in Ladybug’s world as Cat Noir. But now that his days as Cat Noir were likely behind him, it felt like the hands of his friends were reaching down to him in his world of darkness, sending rays of light for him to hope… and now, Marinette’s hand was within his reach, offering to pull him into the light.

The sound of a classroom door slamming shut broke him out of his reverie.

“So… friends?” Marinette asked tentatively, holding out a hand like they were making a truce. Her gaze wavered, falling to the floor as she seemed unsure of what his answer would be.

He didn’t hesitate to take her hand, giving it a firm shake as he affirmed, “Friends.”, with an elated smile. Marinette’s eyes snapped back to his and for a moment, he was struck by how blue they were. _‘Just like Ladybug’s…’_ Suddenly at a loss for what to say and aware that he was still awkwardly holding her hand, he dropped it in favor of running his hand through his hair nervously, casting about for something to say. He latched onto the first idea and asked, “So, you planning on going to the dance?”

“Yeah, are you?” Marinette answered, looking happy that the awkward silence had been broken.  
“Yeah, I managed to get permission to go! I’ve never been to a dance before.” Adrien admitted, silently cursing himself for his newfound awkwardness. Marinette didn’t need to know he’d never been to a dance before, so why was he suddenly being a blabbermouth?  
“Really? Well, if you want to… I’d be happy to escort you and show you the ropes. It could be fun to go together, as friends! But you don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Marinette rushed, growing red in the face.

 _‘Ah, now your awkwardness is making her nervous! Keep it together, Agreste!’_ Shoving his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t keep awkwardly brushing the back of his head and at least keep some semblance of suave collectiveness, he replied evenly, “Yeah, I think that would be fun!” _‘Though for some reason, my heart is racing and I kinda wanted to say that I’d love to…’_

“Awesome!” Marinette exclaimed, looking every bit as happy as he felt. It must’ve been that she was happy too that they’d made some progress on their friendship – that invisible wall of worry erased.  
“See you later, Marinette.” Adrien bade warmly, turning to go – he had after-school lessons to attend and Nathalie would be upset if he wasn’t on time. Just now he'd gotten to thinking that if Nathalie got upset with him, she’d tell his father about forging his signature for the dance and then he wouldn’t let Adrien go… and he couldn’t let that happen now that he was looking forward to it more than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for the last installment planned to be released next week! In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for "Sing Me To Sleep" in the next few days if you want some fluff to tie you over.
> 
> Prince Rupert’s Drop is an actual glass phenomenon that was discovered long ago, the earliest accounts of it recorded in the 1600s. The physical force required to crush it would need to be about 20 force tons, or about 40,000 psi (Which is stronger than even bullet proof glass). However, the tail the exceedingly fragile. The slightest touch will result in literal explosion – the glass does not shatter, it explodes at a molecular level. Here ends the scientific portion and now we enter the fantasy realm where I’ve devised that Amber and her father have developed a way to cure the tail of its brittleness by encasing it in amber. In all likelihood, the tail would probably shatter as soon as it came in contact with the amber, but I fancied myself by bending the laws of physics and thinking that something pliable like resin could be used to coat the tail then hardened for better protection. It’s all just speculation though and only for the purposes of this story. Ladybug referring to it as “Prince Rupees Drop” when she forgot its exact name is my hats off to the new release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
> 
> The ‘beetle-senses’, as I’ve dubbed them, refer to when Ladybug uses her lucky charm and after asking what the heck she’s supposed to do with the item, she looks around at her situation and everything is in grayscale and things pop out to her in ladybug color and print. Not sure if that’s how Ladybug ACTUALLY sees things, or if it’s just an animation trick so that the audience is focusing on the same things Ladybug is, but I decided to interpret it as a literal thing. It made sense to me that it would be a companion power to her lucky charm, and I like the idea that her eyes have a little super power to them just like Cat Noir’s do – since he’s able to see in the dark.
> 
> The location Ladybug is referring to, the “place they first had the opportunity to discover each other’s identities” refers to the closet in the lobby of Le Grand Paris hotel. This was the place where Ladybug went to detransform at the end of the episode Lady Wifi, and Cat Noir could’ve opened the door if he wanted to, but chose not to.
> 
> This fic is set a little over a year into the future from the starting point of the show – the origins episode, when Marinette was starting another year of college. A college is roughly equivalent to a middle school in the U.S., and covers grades 6-9. Also in origins part 1, Marinette remarks that she bets Chloe will be in her class yet again, for the fourth year in a row. This would imply that the first season of the show takes place while they are in 9th grade. Assuming 9th grade, a year from then would mean that the characters are now in 10th grade, which would mean that they’ve moved on to a high school. I have no idea if the show’s future seasons will see these characters in 10th grade or higher and if that means they’re going to have a high school set, but I decided to keep the characters in the 9th grade setting as the name of the school is already familiar with the fans and I wanted the readers to imagine the school scenes in a familiar setting. So for the purposes of this story, just pretend that Collège Françoise Dupont is also the high school.
> 
> If you’re aware of certain spoilers for season two, you may have noticed I used some choice buzz words to describe Chloe in this chapter… (puns intended both here and in the original description)
> 
> The memory Marinette has of Cat Noir claiming he looks good in a swimsuit is from the episode Stormy Weather.
> 
> The door slamming right before Adrien and Marinette shake hands to being friends is an homage to the two moments in Origins of ‘love at first sight’. It’s a predominantly French metaphor that falling in love at first sight is like a thunderbolt. A peel of thunder is heard after Marinette gets the umbrella from Adrien, symbolizing that she’s just fallen for him. Earlier in the same episode, right after Ladybug delivers her threat to Hawk Moth, a policeman’s shield clatters to the ground, representing a clap of thunder and the fact that Cat Noir just fell for Ladybug, which he admits verbally immediately after the shield falls. So for this fic, the slamming door is like a clap of thunder, indicating that Adrien has newfound feelings for Marinette, though he doesn’t understand them yet, nor are they as strong as what he feels for Ladybug. It’s merely indicating that his heart has opened up to her and he’ll start feeling quite confused as he’s starting to feel something like what he feels for Ladybug, especially as Marinette continues to remind him of her.


	6. Part 6 of 6: Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The final installment of Bitter Truth! It's been an honor to have you all as readers, and I truly hope you enjoy the ending I've prepared. I would like to apologize that it's later than I originally promised... I've been under the weather as of late, and even now I worry that this chapter is riddled with errors due to the fog in my head. Please feel free to let me know if any parts don't make sense and I'll fix them as soon as I can, but I didn't want to delay getting this out to you readers any longer!

_'Welcome home, Adrien Agreste…'_ He thought, frowning to himself as he stepped foot in his room for the first time since he left for Normandy, only to be faced with a mountain of homework. It was an unfortunate side effect of having a job at his age – he'd often have a lot of homework to make up after his work hours demanded he be absent a few days. The homework was rather grueling, especially since he hadn't gotten much sleep the night prior because they'd traveled back from the beach in order for his father to make it to a press conference in Paris that morning. He'd been given the option of skipping another day of school to rest, but he had been too anxious to see his friends and didn't relish the idea of adding even more work to the mountain of homework he was now tackling. When his brain couldn't take anymore, he rose from his desk chair, yawning and stretching, thinking he should call it a night.

He exchanged his T-shirt for a night shirt, then began to follow suit with his jeans when he noticed the red string hanging out of the pocket. Pulling the charm out, he beheld it as though for the first time, running a finger over each bead to study its detail. It was a little odd, how this trinket had come to mean so much to him, and what it represented... He thought of Marinette, the person who presented it to him, a tender smile involuntarily overtaking his frown as he recalled their conversations earlier that day. He really hoped that everything she said to him had been true… that they'd be able to have more conversations like that, carefree and open, instead of tiptoeing around each other like they always had done, worrying about whether they'd upset the other somehow.

"It seems you really are a token of good luck." He told the bracelet as he lay it out on his bureau, reflecting on his recent luck with it. Not only had it played a small part in helping Ladybug defeat Bitter Truth, it'd also helped him progress his friendships. He couldn't help but wonder if some of Ladybug's luck had rubbed off on it even in just the short time she'd possessed it. His frown returned as he thought of her, his mind still conflicted, wanting to see her, but still thinking she'd be better off if he didn't return.

_'I wonder if she's given up yet; since I haven't shown up yet... After how many times I've failed her... Even if she was still willing to work with me after Bitter Truth, she must've given up on me after I got cold feet that first night. There's no way she'd have continued to wait while I was away for the photoshoot... So there's no reason to try and see if she's there tonight, right?'_

With a sigh, he plopped down upon his bed, half-dressed for slumber and half-dressed for a potential rendezvous with Ladybug, losing track of time as his mind battled with itself about what he should do.

* * *

_A couple days later..._

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma!" Ladybug delivered her speech before capturing and purifying the butterfly.

Alya filmed the exchange from her perch in a nearby tree, priding herself on finding a nice vantage spot that wasn't too invasive. She was psyched to get some more footage for the Ladyblog, as there hadn't been a single akuma victim since Bitter Truth ten days ago. Now that Ladybug had released her lucky charm and everything had gone back to normal, Alya packed up her stuff, preparing to get down from her position, but was startled when Ladybug suddenly lowered herself into view with her yo-yo, like a spider dangling from its web.

"Gah! I mean, Ladybug!" Alya yelped, willing her pounding heart to steady itself as she needed to be composed in order to properly fangirl and perhaps solicit an interview.  
"You were awesome! Any words for The Ladyblog?" Alya asked, quickly recovering and starting a new recording on her phone.  
"Yeah, actually..." Ladybug began, settling herself onto a nearby branch, "I was hoping you could post another message to Cat Noir for me..."

* * *

"Time to take matters into my own hands." Alya resolved, taking off into a run towards Tom & Sabine's bakery. She had been shocked to find out that Adrien still, after being back from Normandy for a couple days, hadn't shown up to claim his miraculous from Ladybug even though she'd been waiting every night for him! What possessed him to stay away escaped her reasoning. It wasn't that he'd missed the message as Ladybug seemed to assume. Adrien had been there while Ladybug delivered her message for him after her final battle with Bitter Truth. She had been willing to let the first week slide - after all, he'd had that Normandy trip, and with that overbearing father of his, he may have not been able to sneak out that first night... but now that he'd been back for a couple nights, there was no excuse! If she could just find him and show him the second message Ladybug had recorded, rather than posting it on the Ladyblog, to show it to him in person… maybe reason with him... show him that Ladybug had been so unlike herself, clearly stressed from her ten day wait and despairing that he might not return. Hence her current mission: locate and knock some sense into Adrien Agreste!

Reaching her destination, Alya silently prayed that Marinette wasn't at home. It'd be awkward to explain why she wanted to have a look at Adrien's schedule for no apparent reason.  
_'Oh no! What if she got rid of the schedule since I had encouraged her to give up her crush on him!?'_

Panting as she caught her breath, Alya approached Mr. Dupain, who was manning the front counter, and inquired if Marinette was at home. When he responded that she wasn't, she thanked her lucky stars and made up a white lie to gain access to her room, "Er, I think I left my history textbook here when we had our last study date and I really need it back." Marinette's father was more than happy to grant Alya access, so she rushed up the stairs, hoping that her urgency was interpreted as a need for her textbook instead of being up to hi-jinks and shenanigans.

Reaching the loft overhang where the schedule used to reside, she despaired when she noticed the pull ring was gone… as was the whole scroll.  
"Oh no! She did get rid of it!" she cried. Franctically glancing about the room, she spied a suspiciously large pile of trash rising out of the garbage can, and among it, a tall cylindrical object.  
"That's it!" She cried with glee, glad that garbage day wasn't until tomorrow. Stealthily removing the scroll from the bin and spreading it out on the floor so as to view it properly, Alya scanned the schedule looking for Adrien's current whereabouts.

"Wow, Marinette… so detailed… how the heck did you not find out that Adrien is Cat Noir before I did?" Alya mused with a giggle, then froze. "Wait… something doesn't add up. No way she can end up with this amount of detail in Adrien's schedule and not have run into him running off to be Cat Noir! Not unless of course she just happened to be busy every single time he turned into a superhero, and the odds of that are next to nil!"

Momentarily caught up in her indignation, Alya forced herself to refocus on the task at hand. ' _Chill, girl… you've got a more important mission right now... But just you wait, Marinette, you're gonna get it for knowing all along who Cat Noir was without telling me!'_

Tucking away that mental note for later, Alya discovered that Adrien should be at fencing practice for ten more minutes, re-rolled the scroll, and placed it back in the wastebin.  
"Oh? What are these?" She remarked, noting the stack of papers next to the basket. Deftly picking them up, she thumbed through them, gasping as she realized that they were all the Adrien pictures Marinette had once decorated her room with.  
Sighing, Alya muttered to herself, "Aw, girl, you really did take my advice… I guess you probably realized you really never did stand a chance with how much of a smitten kitten he is over Ladybug…"

_'Okay, maybe I don't need to ream her out over keeping Cat Noir's identity from me… at least not right away… After all, Adrien is a friend to both of us, she probably figured she couldn't tell me for the same reason I realized I couldn't tell her. But since we both know now… I can't wait to see the look on her face when I tease her about not telling me, hehe. But I'll wait until she's over Adrien completely…'_

Turning to head out, she hesitated, curiosity overtaking her. She had some extra time, after all… Casting her eyes to the computer screen, which was currently black, she stepped over to it, nudging the mouse with her finger to wake the screen up. To her delight, the overly-pink Adrien background was gone. Replacing it was a picture Alya had recently posted to her Ladyblog in the new Cat Noir section. It was a picture of Cat Noir and Ladybug laughing together that she'd dug out of her reserves. It had been a rare photo to capture of the partners, as they were usually in combat and had precious little time to spare after the battles. This particular time however, a bird had landed on Cat Noir's head at the precise moment they had fist bumped, prompting Cat Noir to start sneezing uncontrollably, and Ladybug had lost it. Cat Noir had looked annoyed at first, but the laughter of loved ones is infectious and after the bird left, he found himself laughing just as hard. Alya had taken the rare opportunity to snap a few pictures of them in that state until their miraculouses had beeped, but had ended up not posting the pictures because they turned out blurry. She had asked Marinette to help her doctor them up a bit the other day with her digital art skills so she could post them. Guess she had been pretty happy with the result. She worried briefly that Marinette technically still had a picture of Adrien on her computer, but given that all her other Adrien pictures were cleared off her wall and that Ladybug was also in the picture, Alya decided that Marinette's intentions were pure, supporting the superhero pair from a distance.

"Alya?" Marinette asked, making Alya jump a foot into the air and spin to face her friend. "Did you find your book? I didn't realize you'd left it here or I would've returned it…"  
_'Book…? Oh right! What I told her dad I was getting! …I guess I could tell her the truth since she no doubt knows that Cat Noir is actually Adrien, but… I still don't feel right bringing that up until she's had some more time to fully let him go…'_ Alya reasoned, choosing to instead keep up the ruse, "Oh, yeah, I actually couldn't find it here, so I'm thinking I must've forgotten it at school instead! So I'd better go get it; I really need it!"  
"Do you want me to help you look?"  
"No, that's okay! I'll see you later, Marinette!" With that, Alya bolted down the stairs, leaving a confused Marinette in her wake.

* * *

The last thing Adrien expected to see when emerging from the men's locker room was a girl. Yet there one stood. Alya, to be exact.

"We need to talk." Alya said firmly, making Adrien gulp. He knew it… it'd been too good to be true, thinking that all his friends would just accept some more of the real him he'd been letting out the past couple of days. Now Alya had come to pick a bone with him.

"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" Alya asked gravely, voice low.  
"Er, I'm sure the classrooms are empty this time of day…" Adrien suggested nervously, resisting the urge to resume his nervous habit and place a hand behind his head. He didn't want to give Alya any inkling that he was lying to her or anything.  
"Good. Come with me."

Reaching their empty homeroom, Alya closed the door behind them and cautiously pressed her ear up against it for a few seconds, listening to hear if they'd been followed. Her behavior certainly struck him as odd. He was beginning to doubt his assumptions on her intentions and now raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. Seemingly satisfied with her investigation, Alya whirled on him, her accusatory finger jabbing him painfully in the chest.

"Why haven't you returned to Ladybug?" She hissed.

Adrien stared at her, eyes wide as saucers. This was perhaps the last thing he expected to come from Alya's mouth. He'd been expecting anger and an accusation of some sort, sure, but the mention of Ladybug caught him way off his guard. His fencing instructor would be horrified. He'd just spent the whole afternoon being 'En Guard', and with only six words, his friend had completely disarmed him.

"Er… what?" Adrien offered feebly, hoping he'd only heard wrong.  
"Don't even try to play that game, Adrien Agreste." Alya snapped, sliding her phone out of her jeans pocket and shaking it at him like it was a weapon, "I have graphic proof that you're Cat Noir."  
"…I see…"  
"…Well? You haven't answered my question. How come you haven't returned to Ladybug?"

Sighing in defeat, Adrien decided there was no getting around this, and a little part of him was even a little glad he finally had someone to talk to about his turmoil. He just hoped doing so wouldn't compromise their friendship in any way… but come to think of it, based on her current actions, she'd known he was Cat Noir for a little while and had kept his secret – the sign of a true friend. Actually, maybe that's why she'd kept giving him weird looks as of late. Maybe all this time she'd been silently asking him if he'd returned to hero work yet.

"I… I think Ladybug is better off without me." Adrien admitted, casting his gaze downward.  
"Bogus!" Alya asserted, stooping to meet his eyes with defiance written all over hers, "How many times would Paris have been doomed if not for you? In just your last appearance alone, you saved Ladybug from being Bitter Truth's puppet and made it possible for her to win the fight in a later battle. You even showed up to that battle and helped change the tide even though you'd lost your powers!"  
"It's great that you think that, Alya, but even if that was the result, my reasons for doing what I've done have been selfish."

Not to be deterred, Alya challenged, "Oh? You think that just because you let your love for Ladybug motivate you that you're unfit to be Cat Noir?"  
"Uh, l-love? I-I don't know what you're talking about..." Adrien stammered, eyes darting this way and that to avoid her piercing amber gaze.  
"Don't try to deny it," Alya commanded, wagging her finger in his face, "I saw your face during Ladybug's first speech to try and get you back. I even had to blur the footage 'cause I was worried some observant people would see how you looked at her each time she addressed Cat Noir".

How was it that Alya seemed to be reading his mind, even in a video? Had she been a mind reader all along and that's how she knew he was Cat Noir?  
"Yet again, you're avoiding my question," she snapped, repeating herself, "Do you _really_ think that your love for Ladybug disqualifies you from being her partner?"  
"Uh… yes?" Adrien squeaked, unsure how to appease the intimidating woman's fury, "Wouldn't the people of Paris be upset that I put Ladybug's safety above their own?"  
"The safety of Paris is primarily Ladybug's job… YOUR job is to protect Ladybug so she CAN protect us."

Adrien blinked. Was that really what the people of Paris thought? Was he really allowed to be selfish?  
With an exasperated snort, taking his silence to mean he wasn't convinced, Alya feverishly worked on her phone, loading a video.  
"Watch this." She commanded, holding the phone out for Adrien to take. He did so, and though apprehensive, didn't hesitate to press play, for fear of invoking Alya's wrath even further.

" _Cat Noir, in case you missed my first message… I'll be waiting at the place we first had the chance to see each other's real identities. I'll have your miraculous with me and will keep my eyes closed so you don't have to worry about me finding out your identity. If…"_ The recording started out, the usual confident Ladybug he loved so much staring back at him with sapphire eyes. He resisted the urge to touch the screen, knowing that doing so would only serve to pause the video. As the video continued, her bright eyes clouded with worry, and he saw her exhibit a sort of vulnerable aura he'd never seen before.  
She continued her monologue, a note of uncertainty taking over her voice, _"...If you did get my message and just chose to ignore it… If you thought I was mad or upset at you; you're wrong. We're an unstoppable team, and that means we don't let things like this stop us! So, until you show up, I'll be waiting every night…"  
_ Ladybug proceeded to thank Alya for recording the message and she swung off on her yo-yo, then the recording ended.

"My lady…" he muttered subconsciously, brows knit with worry.

"Well she ain't 'Your Lady' if you ain't supporting her as Cat Noir." Alya huffed, taking her phone back. " _My_ suggestion is that you go _tonight_ , before there's anymore akuma attacks."

_'_ _It's not that simple… I'm still inadequate…'_

The witch - that's what she must be, for she managed to read his mind yet again, responding to his unspoken protest with, "Just ask yourself… if you think it's hard to forgive yourself now, what will you do if something happens to Ladybug while you were busy feeling sorry for yourself?"

The thought pierced him like an undulled fencing blade, leaving him shocked and panicked. _'No way... there's no way something bad could happen to Ladybug... right?'_ He was too shaken to respond, and only looked up helplessly, eyes pleading for an answer to his confusion.

No answer was to be had, however, as she seemed to tell him to figure it out for himself with merely the intensity of the glare she gave him. With a harrumph of frustration, Alya left, closing the door behind her a little forcefully, leaving Adrien reeling in his own thoughts.

* * *

Adrien absently ran his fingers over his lucky charm, more confused than ever after Alya's intervention. With a sigh, he held the charm up to eye level and asked, "Would you grant me the luck I need to face Ladybug?"  
Her face shone in his mind's eye, those brilliantly blue eyes boring holes into his soul… and as he continued gazing at the bracelet, another image began to interpolate itself onto Ladybug's… No matter how he sliced it, Marinette and Ladybug's eyes intersected perfectly. The only discernible difference was that Ladybug's eyes shone with determination and bravery, whereas Marinette's were softer, emanating compassion and empathy. This overlapping of faces... maybe it was his mind trying to tell him something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was... His thoughts drifted to Marinette, and he smiled as he recalled how friendly she'd been as of late, ever since they'd had a good heart-to-heart.

Her confession a couple days ago rang in his ears: _"I just decided that I was going to stop worrying about what you thought and just… let things happen naturally."_

He felt a sense of clarity begin to descend as he dwelled on her words. The more the words echoed in his mind, the more he thought he should apply that logic to Ladybug. If nothing else, regardless of what the future held in store regarding his status as Cat Noir, he owed it to Ladybug to meet with her and at least apologize… But the thought of that was equally gut wrenching.

* * *

The incessant beeping pierced her dreamless sleep, pulling her out of the realm of dreams with a jolt. With a moan, Ladybug extended an arm to grope about for the source of the alarm, reluctant to open her heavy eyelids. To do so would not only complete her awakening, but end her broom cupboard patrol. A couple weeks ago, never would she have dreamed she'd be slumbering in a closet, 'patrolling' as she waited for Cat Noir to return.

Finally giving up in the interest of not drawing too much attention to the otherwise inconspicuous lobby closet, Ladybug's eyes fluttered open and she located her yo-yo, toggling the alarm so it no longer rang. With a heavy sigh, she craned her neck and attempted to relieve the cramp that was beginning to form from having slept with it perched against a wooden shelf. She hated this part the most – the part where she woke up and was forced to come to terms with the reality that Cat Noir had failed to appear – yet again.

Each night weighed exponentially heavier on her emotions – the anticipation that _surely tonight_ he'd finally show, the growing anxiety as the hours dragged on, and exhaustion, both physical and emotional, until it dragged her into restless slumber… and then the crushing disappointment, like another rock had found its way into the pit of her stomach, adding weight to the probable truth that if he hadn't come back by now, he likely never would… Yet despite their heaviness crushing down on her, she couldn't help but think, ' _Maybe if I wait just a few minutes more…'_

It had been Tikki's idea to set an alarm after the first night that she ended up accidentally spending the entire night in the closet, with a roll of spare paper towels as a pillow that left a quilted pattern on her cheek for an hour. She'd nearly been discovered by a first shift janitor, but luckily awoke to his approaching steps and was able to de-transform and mutter some excuses about needing some paper towels for a spill in room 103. She was finding it harder and harder to stay awake during her ladybug-in-waiting ventures, as the lack of proper sleep the night before compounded with how tired she was to begin with the day before that. Thus Tikki had put her foot down and insisted that she shorten up her 'paper-towel patrol' and set an alarm so she could sneak out and go home undetected and hopefully get some proper sleep in her own bed. Marinette had argued back, claiming she found it easier to sleep while waiting for Cat Noir than after she had to give up for the night… There was a twisted sense of peace, being able to sleep with the hope that you'd awake to the sound of your partner's voice calling out to you, saying something like, _"I've returned; sorry I kept you waiting so long, m'lady"_ , that was far more comforting than the plush texture of her bed. Tikki still won the argument, however, reasoning that she ran the risk of being discovered if she spent too much time sleeping in the closet… and if she ever got discovered, she'd no longer be able to wait for Cat Noir there and her chances on reuniting with her partner really would reach zero.

"Ten days…" she muttered to herself, as she had gotten into the habit of doing the past few nights. It was a bit of a ritual for her – a coping mechanism. It was like keeping a tally on how long she'd been stranded on a deserted island, waiting for rescue. It ended the patrol for the day so she'd be able to keep her agreement with Tikki and head home, but also kept a flicker of hope alive that tomorrow was a new day and rescue was still possible. Tomorrow evening she'd come back, repeat the ritual, issue an utterance of _"Eleven days…"_ , and the day after, _"Twelve days…"_ and so on… however many it took for her kitty to come back.

It had always been a mystery to her why multiples of ten were treated with such importance… Tenth anniversaries, Fiftieth anniversaries, One-hundredth anniversaries, and so on… But whatever the origin for their importance, the fact that she'd reached a multiple of ten on her tally suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. She finally understood... it was like a milestone... a point of no turning back... and before she had a chance to talk herself out of it – be the rational Ladybug that she was – the floodgates opened. All the weight that had built up over the last ten days came pouring out, wracking her body with sobs and making it hard to breathe. Although her kwami wasn't present beside her, she felt her presence implicitly trying to soothe Ladybug's breaking spirit, and the superheroine could almost imagine Tikki's eyes narrowing in sympathy as she whispered words of encouragement. Ladybug prepared herself for just that, knowing that no matter how desperately she had wished for it, Cat Noir would yet again not be making an appearance tonight, so she may as well shed the spots and let her sweet kwami comfort her in person.

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

The unanticipated sound was enough to startle Adrien to the point that he felt like he'd just jumped right out of his skin, and miraculous or not, there was enough cat left in him to feel all the hairs on his body standing on end as a response to the fright the noise had just incurred. It hadn't helped that his hand had been mere millimeters from the door handle that would lead him into the maintenance closet in the lobby of _Le Grand Paris_ hotel.

He took great pride in his miraculous feat of remaining completely quiet in response to the sudden noise, maintaining stealth mode. It had been hard enough to sneak into the lobby without getting detected, as the prestigious place prided itself on having twenty-four hour lobby service for equally prestigious guests who arrived at all hours of the night, fresh off their flights from places where it was still daytime.

He had held his breath since the start of the strange beeping noise, holding as still as he could so that he wouldn't be discovered in the shadows, but now he dared to look around, trying to identify the source of the sound and ensure that the receptionist was still asleep at the desk. He finally dared to exhale when a quick glance asserted that the overpaid part-timer was indeed still snoring, undisturbed by the unidentified beeping noise. The term 'scaredy-cat' came to mind as he allowed himself to relax his tensed shoulders and properly take in his surroundings. The beeping had now stopped and the only sounds that filled his ears were the clerk's snores and the _thump-thump_ of his own adrenaline-charged heart.

Satisfied that the situation had passed – _'Perhaps the clerk set an alarm for himself but it failed to wake him up?'_ \- Adrien tried to regain his bearings. He'd come this far, he should probably go through with it, even if Ladybug was no longer waiting. Goodness knows the battle within him had made the trip here three times longer than necessary as he constantly changed his mind. Even now, at the end of his journey, hand hovering over the handle, he couldn't bring himself to go through with it. _'Come on, Agreste, just open the door… she won't even be there, knowing your luck… then you can get over all this tension, head home, and get some much needed sleep… and maybe get enough courage to come here tomorrow night in time to actually MEET Ladybug..'_

He'd been playing this game for the past couple of nights now… convincing himself he should go see Ladybug and beg her to take him back as a sidekick so he could protect her like he wanted… Alya had seemed to think that was a good idea, and it never hurt to ask, right? But who was he kidding? The only reason Ladybug was waiting for him was because she was just that awesome, kind, and loyal… not because she actually needed him. As soon as he showed up, she'd no doubt see how unworthy he was and realize what a failure he'd been as a partner and change her mind. Then again, she was probably too nice to admit that… but he owed it to Ladybug to at least tell her himself that she needed to find a new Cat Noir – one who deserved to wear the mask and fight by her side. As much as he wanted to be that person, it was a selfish desire and Ladybug deserved better. Either way, he needed to stop chickening out about it and actually go when she'd be there. Each night he had ended up turning back and going back home with his tail between his legs in shame… or at least that's what it would've looked like if he'd been suited up with his miraculous at the time. He just didn't have the courage to face her – not when he'd failed her so utterly and completely. But today had been different... Today he'd had some encouragement from his friends. Well, actually, Alya's push felt more like a slap to the face than encouragement, but it was what he needed to motivate him to finally talk to Ladybug. Marinette wasn't even aware that she'd encouraged him, but as he gripped the lucky charm in his pocket, he knew he wouldn't have made it this far without her encouragement too, however indirect.

Adrien was roused from his inner reverie by a soft, feminine sound coming from the closet. If he'd already jumped out of his skin when he heard the loud beeping noise, this subdued - _'Was that a whimper?'_ – noise caused him to jump out of his muscles, heart pounding at full throttle.  
_'My lady… is still here!?'_ Panic seizing his muscles, he found himself unable to move, yet nonetheless planning his escape – there was a large flower pot with ample plumage to his right… if he could just dive behind that and avoid contact…

Just as he began to pivot on his toes to execute his plans for evasive maneuvers, another sound stopped him dead in his tracks – a sharp inhale followed by staggered sobs and sniffling… and it was beginning to build in intensity. Could it be…? _'My lady… is crying?'_

The realization unraveled every fiber in his being, and suddenly, all the apprehension about seeing her again vanished. His lady was in distress, how could he NOT rush to her aid?  
_'Though even in such a situation, I'm powerless to aid her… but I cannot bear to let her cry alone…'_ Steadying himself with a shaky breath, Adrien mustered up every last ounce of his courage and closed the distance between himself and the door that separated him from Ladybug.

* * *

Ladybug's breath hitched mid-sob at the sound of a soft 'click', alerting her that her privacy was about to end. Her mind raced, wondering if she should be excited and allow herself to hope for the slim chance that it was Cat Noir, or if she should be steeling herself to be caught by the hotel staff, putting an end to her hopes forever. Time seemed to stop as the door creaked open and she found herself unable to move, unable to breathe as she kept her eyes tightly shut and ears perked for any further sounds. Her whole future with or without Cat Noir _hinged_ on this moment – and she prayed to God Cat Noir would be in that future and able to applaud her for such puns. Heck, she'd even swear to God that she'd never roll her eyes at another one of his puns if her prayers were answered and it really was Cat Noir at the door in this moment. Letting her hope win over the pessimistic odds, she whispered, "…Kitty?"

* * *

Adrien hesitated at the entrance, struck dumb by the sight of the beautiful bug looking up at him – well, if her eyes were open, she'd be looking at him, but as it was, her head was turned in his direction, tears streaming from those hidden eyes, hope and apprehension pulling at her brows. She'd obviously been waiting for awhile, as her suit was wrinkled and her hair was disheveled, the twin tails coming loose from their bands. Yet seeing her there, his blue-eyed lady, weary with the wait for him... It was the most breathtaking sight he'd ever laid eyes on – even though her own eyes were closed. Then she spoke… that sweet voice breaking the silence with the most disarming word he'd ever heard in his life. "…Kitty?"

In a moment, he was down on his knees, drawing her into a tender but desperate embrace. She was tense at first, but when he finally found his voice and responded in a strained whisper, "I'm here, m'lady…", she threw her arms around him, nearly toppling him over backwards as he hadn't been prepared for her… uh, _enthusiasm_. He felt his cheeks begin to burn as she sobbed into his shoulder and he was once again at a loss for words – this was not how he had planned on things going – not that he was complaining, of course. Allowing himself to get a little caught up in the moment, he sought to comfort her in some way and ease her tears, holding her tight and reaching a hand up to run his fingers through her hair.  
_'Gosh that feels nice… No! Focus, Adrien! This about making Ladybug feel better, not yourself!'_

As if reading his thoughts, like everyone seemed to be doing lately, Ladybug finally spoke again, chiding him harshly, "You're such an idiot!"

' _You're right of course, but I'm not sure what idiotic behavior you're referring to at the current moment…'_ Before he had a chance to ask her to clarify, she continued, "I've been waiting for ten days! Why'd you take so long to come back!?"

He instinctively pulled back, taken aback by the turn of her accusations. He'd expected to be berated for his failure on the battlefield, not on failure to return to the battlefield after his original failure had certainly earned him a dishonorable discharge…

Ladybug surprised him further by tightening her grip on him, like she was afraid he'd leave again. Feeling a tinge of guilty pleasure for reveling in her possessive touch, he decided that she clearly wasn't in her right mind right now and he needed to proceed with his prepared speech – it'd be selfish of him to continue letting her fawn over him when she needed some sense talked into her… Though he had to admit he was internally swelling at the thought that his lady had actually missed him.

Holding her at arm's length so he wouldn't be distracted by her continued touch, he launched into his speech, speaking fast so he wouldn't lose confidence halfway through. "You're right; I'm beyond idiotic. Look, I'm sorry… for everything. I failed you, I failed Paris, and I don't deserve to serve by your side as Cat Noir. So – "

He had anticipated he would get interrupted by his own cowardice, but he never expected to be stopped with a gloved hand to his lips. The abrupt action of his scarlet heroine caught him so off guard that both his body and mind froze, at a loss for an explanation of her actions. When his mind began to churn once more, the most preposterous thoughts began to bounce around within, everything from _'She hates me so much she doesn't even want to hear my voice anymore'_ to _'Mon bleu! She's touching my lips! With her own hand! Of her own volition!'_. He felt his face again grow hot, though he wasn't sure if it was the shame from his failures or sheepishness at her touch that was causing it.

* * *

Ladybug's mind was reeling with how she should form her next words. She'd brashly reached out to stop Cat Noir from speaking, guessing what would be coming next, and she didn't want to hear it. She selfishly wanted to demand he continue to be her partner. She simply couldn't imagine having to work with a different Cat Noir, not after all they'd been through. Past experience told her that acting on such self-centered impulses rarely went well, however, so she cast about for what she could say to convince him to serve at her side once more, without seeming desperate.

At the sound of a muffled cry from the aforementioned partner, Ladybug had a classic Marinette 'spaz' moment and immediately released her hold on his lips, and panicked that she may have inadvertently begun to suffocate him. She began to apologize profusely as her arms flailed about her head as they were oft to do when she was greatly embarrassed.  
"Gah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! I can't see anything, so I kinda had to guess where your mouth was – I mean I guess I didn't have to go for the mouth – I mean!" she stammered.

_'Ugh, it's like talking to Adrien all over again… But I'm only panicking because I don't know what to say, and with Cat Noir's flirtatious tendencies, he's probably taking my words all wrong!'_

Deciding it was better to just start over, she heaved a sigh, relaxed her arms, and tried to speak in a calm, even tone, "You're not the one who needs to apologize… I am. If it weren't for me, you would've never found yourself in such an impossible position. But even so, you did the right thing… It's Ladybug who failed Paris… and Cat Noir is the one who saved it."

* * *

' _My lady… she doesn't think I failed?'_ Adrien found his heart racing at her kind words, but knew he couldn't let her continue to believe a lie… She must not have realized his selfish reasons behind his actions. That was his lady, always thinking the best of people.

"I'm afraid you're wrong, m'lady." At this he instinctively ran a finger along her cheek to wipe a tear that was falling. When she didn't recoil like he thought she surely would, he dared to let his hand linger, but was startled into withdrawing his hand when the shelf Ladybug was leaning against gave way with a loud clatter. The two froze for a moment, worried that the sound had attracted the attention of the receptionist. But when nothing happened, he hesitated a moment, but ultimately decided to resume his contact, gently cupping the side of her face as he resumed his speech, voice now lower and huskier, "I wasn't thinking of Paris, but only of you… and if my vision is so narrow, you deserve someone better to serve at your side. Even now, I'm being selfish, asking you forgive me for my mistakes and even consider letting me be Cat Noir again… But I both understand and encourage you to instead find a more noble bearer for the ring."

* * *

A funny thing happened when she felt the contact between Cat Noir's de-gloved hand and her own tear-streaked flesh: her heart thumped, her chest tightened, and her stomach did a back-flip like it was an Olympic gymnast. Such a thing had only happened once before… on a certain rainy afternoon when a classmate had given her an umbrella and their fingers met. There was even a clap of thunder, just like there had been back then - oh wait, that was the shelf she was leaning on deciding it didn't want to support her weight anymore. _'Ow.'_

The realization caused all other senses to cease functioning, leaving her in the vacuum of her own mind – a dangerous place to be when there were new, unexplained thoughts to dwell on. All at once all those uncomfortable little thoughts she'd been shoving to the side presented themselves as large thoughts, crowding the wide open spaces of her focus, screaming at her to notice them... to notice the feelings she'd been repressing but had nonetheless grew... It took all of her concentration to compose herself and return to reality, realizing that Cat Noir was again talking to her, appealing for forgiveness.

When the entirety of what he'd said during the time she'd been reeling from his touch finally rendered itself in her mind, she shook her head vehemently.

* * *

Adrien's heart sank. Like an anchor had been tied to an artery, he felt it being pulled down deep into the lake of despair. She'd said no… she wasn't going to forgive him. He knew he deserved it, but that didn't make it hurt any less. His only consolation was that she hadn't had the heart to verbalize it. Forever the lady, she had the courtesy to only shake her head, sparing his heart at least a little weight. Resolving himself to say his final goodbyes then and wish her luck on her search for a new Cat Noir, he dropped his hand and opened his mouth to speak –

"I won't forgive you - " She interjected.  
_'…Well, she always did have her more direct moments too… but that's what I find irresistible.'_ he lamented.  
"- because there's nothing to forgive. I'm the one who needs forgiveness… I took you for granted… If anyone deserves to be replaced, it's me. I've made so many mistakes – I've helped provide candidates to be akumatized, I've let villains taunt me and terrorize more people when I could've ended it earlier, and my worst mistake was putting you in the situation where you had to sacrifice yourself. No, even before all that... I failed you as a partner… I didn't take the time to get to know you and help you, even though you've always done so for me."

Every word had Adrien pulling the anchor on his heart up another knot – daring to hope that he wasn't a complete failure, that Ladybug wasn't just being courteous, that she really did want him by her side, that she'd really let him… Emboldened by her speech, he excitedly scooped up her hands in his own and proposed, "Well then, why don't we both just do our best moving forward… together?"

She lit up at his suggestion, a small but genuine smile creasing her lips – a most welcome sight for Adrien, particularly after the pain of having to see her tears, knowing he was the cause. Rather than speaking, she answered by adjusting her hands while they were still in his own, pressing an all-too familiar object into them.

Taking it gratefully, he slipped the ring on before he had a chance to second guess his decision and not a moment later, Plagg swirled into being and launched himself at Adrien's face, nuzzling it affectionately.  
"It's you! It's finally you! Not that wretched lady!" the charcoal kwami cried.  
"Good to see you too, Plagg." Adrien beamed, truly glad to have his companion back.  
"…Did you bring me any Camembert?" Plagg ventured to ask, abruptly withdrawing.

Adrien scowled at his little obsidian companion, his prior elation all but gone as he showed his true colors. "Sorry, Plagg, that'll have to wait until we get back home. Claws out!"  
"WHAT!? Aw come on, that's not faaiiirrrr!" the feline squawked as he was forcibly drawn back into the ring.

Thankful to be wearing the suit again, Cat Noir stood to his feet, offering a hand to Ladybug where she sat, with an affirmation that she could now open her eyes. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes once Ladybug was standing, facing him, eyes wide open. Her hair had completely shaken loose from her pigtails and was falling on her shoulders in wispy tendrils of ebony, her eyes shone far bluer than he remembered them being, glistening with the moisture from her past tears, and the kicker – she looked ecstatic to finally see him. It was written all over her face and he found it positively radiant.

Momentarily overwhelmed by her beauty, he continued to stare into her eyes as he instinctively drew the hand he was still holding to his lips and brushed it ever so slightly, lingering far longer than was necessary. Usually by now he would've been shaken off, so when she made no move to do so, and instead let out the cutest gasp of surprise, he chanced a glance at her facial expression and was pleasantly surprised to see her cheeks beginning to color. The unexpected but welcome reaction prompted him to cast off the remainder of the weight on his heart as it soared into the clouds. Unable to stop himself, his lips spread into the biggest Cheshire-cat grin of his entire Cat Noir career.

Not wanting the moment to go to waste as he felt himself slipping back into a comfortable 'Cat Noir' style persona, he cheekily began to plant kiss after kiss on her hand, daring to begin an ascent up her arm in true Parisian fashion.

* * *

Ladybug tensed as the blush upon her cheeks deepened, not expecting the sudden turn of events. Sure, she was glad he was back to his old self and back on 'Team Miraculous', but this was a bit much – though if Bitter Truth were present, she would've had to admit that she found it almost enjoyable… but more than a bit confusing.

Deciding the best way out of this was to return to the status quo, she withdrew her arm from his grasp and pushed him back by the nose, like she'd done so many times before. With a light-hearted smirk she teased, "I know you're happy to see me, but calm down, no need to have a kitten." She smiled smugly, mentally patting herself on the back for her clever use of a cat idiom and a quick recovery from… well, whatever that arm thing was, relieved that she deflected it.

She knew her victory was short-lived, however, when Cat Noir donned his signature impish grin, wagged his eyebrows, and countered, "Couldn't agree more, m'lady. We only just got back together; we should wait a few years before we have any kittens."

* * *

What he wouldn't do for a camera right this moment. The look on her face was priceless. She'd gone beet-red, her mouth had opened involuntarily in shock, and her eye had begun showing hints of a twitch. If he had to guess her thoughts, he bet it was something along the lines of _'What grave sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this!?'_ , though secretly he hoped that a part of her liked it... But even if she didn't, nothing could dampen his mood right now. He'd been reunited with his lady, and she'd _wanted_ him back – had practically _begged_ him to come back. Yep, this cat was over the moon in elation.

He knew he'd soon have to pay the consequences for his boldness, but her reaction had made it one-hundred percent worth it. He even dared to go one step further, both figuratively and literally as he re-invaded her space, figuring he'd already dug his own grave, so why not call the undertaker?  
"What's the matter, m'lady? Feeling a bit _claws_ trophobic with just the two of us in this cozy _claws_ et?"  
_'Double score for the same pun used two different ways in the same sentence! Lookout Paris, Cat Noir is back and he's on fire!'_

Ladybug was four for four on surprises that evening, though, as she shocked him yet again by avoiding the usual retort such an uncomfortable comment would usually warrant and instead just sighed, "I'll let you off the hook this time, but I think we should have a little chat about your comedic timing…"  
"Whatever my lady desires…" He agreed with an exaggerated bow, though he hoped she wouldn't wish for the end of puns and flirtation – such a demand would strip him of his very identity.

"I'm serious! I think we should start getting to know one another better – it would help us be more in sync during battle and prevent anymore incidents like what happened with Bitter Truth… If we were able to understand how each other thinks, know what's currently troubling each other… we could help each other become better heroes for Paris." She rambled, cheeks still adorned with an adorable pink blush.  
"I'm touched, my lady…" and he meant it. The fact that she wanted to get to know him, even if it was primarily for duty's sake, made his heart soar ever higher. "When and where should we meet, then?"  
"Hm… how about the the Pont Des Arts bridge this Saturday at 8pm?"  
"Then it's a date, m'lady!" Cat Noir affirmed with an enthusiastic nod.

"It's not a date!" Ladybug protested, perhaps a little too forcefully. But seeing as how his heart was already on cloud nine, it could stand to come back down to earth a bit. "Goodnight!" she added, quickly pivoting so that he could not see her face grow hotter.

"Wait!" he cried desperately, not wanting to see her go already, though she was already halfway out the door and he'd no doubt wake the sleeping clerk just outside. When she turned and raised a quizzical eyebrow, he hastened to explain, "Er… It's just that, I owe you a fist bump… for a job well done defeating Bitter Truth."

Her lips curled into a sweet smile he didn't deserve as she replied, "I owe you one too."  
"Huh? I uh, wasn't even there when you defeated her!" Cat Noir protested, eyes shifting about nervously at the thought she might have found out his identity. _'I was there as Adrien though…'_  
"Maybe not, but it wouldn't have been possible to defeat her if not for you. It should've been over the moment she took control of me, but you broke her hold on me and bought me more time, so… good job!"

Even after ten days of separation, they managed to time their efforts perfectly, fists meeting halfway as they gave voice to a belated, but nevertheless triumphant cry, "Pound it!"

* * *

Marinette hummed happily to herself as she strolled through the streets of Paris, making her way back home. The night was old and cold as by now it was quite late, but nothing could dampen her spirits, for her Cat had returned to her. All that fretting, all that despair, all that worry – gone. Her days awaiting rescue had come to an end, their duration ending at ten. Albeit, they'd arguably been ten of the worst days of her life, but still, they were over now and things were looking up.

She felt she'd come to understand Cat Noir a whole lot better than before and she found herself pleasantly surprised at the knowledge. She had misjudged him… which she hadn't thought possible for she had always thought of him fondly… just… never took him as seriously as she should have. Part of it was probably due to the fact that she'd obsessed over Adrien Agreste for so long, she didn't pay any mind to any of the other men in her life – and that just wasn't fair to them, as friends, of course... _'Emphasis on "friends", you silly little butterflies in my stomach...'_

Ironically, Adrien had been the one to show her that. By getting so caught up in her romantic interest in him, she'd missed out on a year of opportunity to simply be his friend. Going forward, she resolved to be a more attentive friend to Adrien, Cat Noir, Nino, and all the others, regardless of whether she had romantic feelings for them or not. It was only fair. "Que sera sera…"

"Marinette?" Tikki asked tentatively in-between bites of the cookie Marinette had packed for her.  
"Ah, sorry, did I say that out loud?" Marinette apologized, "I was just thinking that I'm ready to take things one day at a time from now on is all."  
Thoughtfully chewing and swallowing before speaking up again, Tikki admonished, "That's well and good and all, but you might want to start thinking a bit ahead of time, about Saturday in particular."  
"Why's that?"  
Using her kwami paws to make air quotes, Tikki explained, "You just made a 'date' with Cat Noir the same night you have a 'date' with Adrien to the school dance."

It took a moment for the realization to hit, the happy-go-lucky contentment sticking around for just a moment longer before the words processed in her brain. When they did, Marinette launched into a full scale panic attack with a shout of, "WHAT?! OHMYGOSH YOU HAVE TO HELP ME, WHAT SHOULD I DOOOOO!?"

"Oh Marinette…" the kwami just sighed, shaking her head at her owner and wondering if she'd ever overcome her more clumsy and forgetful tendencies.

_Episode 1: Bitter Truth - Fin_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Coming Soon! Episode 2: Double Date**   
>  _Marinette couldn't be more excited for the school dance. Her dress was ready and sure to blow Chloe's out of the water, and her best friend was going to be the photographer so she didn't have to worry about any embarrassing photos - for there was bound to be embarrassment... How could she keep her cool when she'd managed to get THE Adrien Agreste to go as her date!? There was just one problem: the night of the dance also happened to be the night Ladybug and Cat Noir were supposed to go on their first ever patrol. Surely there must be SOME way to make this work?_
> 
> Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the conclusion! Did you have a favorite part in this story? What moment made you laugh? Did any scenes tug at your heart? Did anything annoy you? Let me know if I created any out-of-character moments or went overboard on the angst or fluff (which it felt like I did at times, haha). Are you planning to check out following episodes? What would you like to see happen in them?
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> The excuse Alya uses of needing to get a textbook back from Marinette was originally used by Sabrina in the episode, "Knightmare"
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> The overhanging schedule Marinette keeps of Adrien's itinerary can be seen in the episode "Copycat", and potentially others... but I know for sure it's in that episode.
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> The reason I used 'Mon bleu!' as Adrien's exclamation was partly to make a bit of a pun… It was derived from 'Mon Dieu', which is an older French exclamation equivalent to 'Oh my God' in English. The word 'bleu', which means 'blue', has historically been used as a substitute to 'Dieu' to avoid taking the Lord's name in vain (such as in the antiquated phrase 'sacre bleu') , much like how in English, one might say 'Oh my gosh!'. I personally avoid using phrases which take the Lord's name in vain, both for my personal convictions and to avoid offending anyone else who may have religious sensitivities to a proper title for a deity being used as a curse word. I figured that most children's cartoons aim to avoid the same offense, and so I had the thought that if Cat Noir ever had to say it, he'd say it this way, both for pun value and kid-friendly filtering. He's also more or less referring to her as his blue-eyed lady by saying this.
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> The moment Ladybug is thinking of when Cat Noir wipes her tears is the umbrella scene at the end of the Origins part 2 episode. But if you didn't know that, then shame on you! And you call yourself a fan… Re-watch the series, or at least the origins episodes.
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> The shelf giving way in the closet is another homage to the thunderclap from the origins part 2 episode (See note about the broom clatter in the previous episode). I imagine Ladybug's thunderclap moment being the moment that realizes that there's something there with Cat Noir… something she hadn't dared let surface before, but now it burst forth, and maybe letting it do so isn't such a bad thing.
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> The trail of kisses up the arm is an old cinema trope used to characterize a Casanova character, and as Paris is known as the city of love, these Casanova characters are often French. Hence the 'true Parisian fashion' comment, although chances are that's not actually something you'll see in France… My apologies for misrepresenting, it just seemed like a very Cat Noir thing to do.
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> The idiom 'have a kitten' is rather dated and not widely used, so I figured I should probably explain it here. It typically means that someone is losing their mind, usually in anger, but Ladybug uses it here to imply that Cat Noir is losing his mind in his elation. Cat Noir's response isn't expressing his hopes to be co-pet-owners with Ladybug someday, but is rather implying that he'd like to, erm, purcreate with her… hence her "URK!"-type reaction and subsequent chiding.
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> I've never wished so much that I used the French phrases instead of the English ones than now… 'Pound it' is just so cheesy… and in the context of the ending scene, they just wanted to resume their ritual of telling the other 'well done' after an akuma was successfully defeated… so I had to add the explicit 'good job' verbalizations to their individual dialogues before their fist bump…
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>  **Tumblr**  
>  For updates on this and other stories, behind-the-scenes, Q&A, and general fangirling, check out my tumblr: [zepuka.tumblr.com](http://zepuka.tumblr.com)


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